Update On MM Trekking Group In Nepal

Mark Gun­log­son received calls at 9 p.m. Sat­ur­day, Seat­tle time, and again this morn­ing at 8 a.m., Seat­tle time, with updates for our group in Nam­che Bazaar. Some after­shocks are still occur­ring, which rat­tle already shak­en nerves. But, every­body is ok and safe. Deana reports that the kids from the Children’s Home that many of you have sup­port­ed, are all ok too. Also thank­ful­ly, the fam­i­lies of our Moun­tain Mad­ness Sher­pa staff are ok, although some of their homes have been bad­ly damaged.

We are in the process of set­ting up a fund to help our staff and the Children’s Home – watch info on our Face­book page and we will send out anoth­er blog with more information. 

Deana Zabal­do with kids from the Chil­dren’s Home. Deana Zabal­do photo

For now, though, we are thank­ful our group is at Nam­che Baz­zaar, the biggest vil­lage in the Khum­bu and a safe place to be. The elec­tric­i­ty there is work­ing, water is avail­able, and food suf­fi­cient for a cou­ple of weeks at least. Mon­day, Nepal time, the group will stretch their legs and go for a walk in a safe area and release some of the stress of this sit­u­a­tion and, if pos­si­ble, give a help­ing hand. When the time is right, the group will hike to the town of Luk­la and fly out to Kath­man­du. In the mean­time, they remain safe.

Nam­che Bazaar before the earth­quake. Mar­la Fenske photo

In Kath­man­du, our team is ok. Kili Sher­pa and Sagar Poudel are ok, though Sagar report­ed that both he and Kili are sleep­ing out­side of their hous­es in tents, their hous­es stand­ing, but the sta­bil­i­ty of them is uncer­tain. He says it’s rain­ing in Kath­man­du, which will keep dust lev­els down but make res­cue efforts less favorable.

For those of you who that have been with MM in Nepal we’d like you to know that Neel is ok and his shop, the ​“Rain­bow Thanka,” also is fine. No shops though are open in Thamel area. Because of con­tin­u­ous and fre­quent after­shocks, most peo­ple (inside or out­side Kath­man­du) can­not stay inside their home so they very often stay outside. 

Neel in his store, Rain­bow Thanka, a cou­ple years ago. Neil Asa­ba photo

For now, though, we are think­ing of our Moun­tain Mad­ness clients, staff, and their fam­i­lies and all oth­ers in this disaster.