Mount Everest, Avalanche and Tragedy. On September 21 an avalanche of snow and ice fell

very near Nuptse’s north face. The avalanche roared down the west face of Lhotse, striking a group of men headed for the South Col. It left uninjured one Japanese and several Sherpas in its path, but it suddenly changed direction when it hit the yellow rock band and apparently carried with it the fixed ropes that two other Sherpas and a Frenchman were using at that moment. It swept these three men down the face to their deaths.

One of the Sherpas who died was the well-known Lobsang Jangbu, who had summited Everest four times, most recently last May 10, when five people died during their descent and he attempted to rescue the leader of his team, Scott Fischer. He was last working for a Japanese climber on Everest. His body was not found during several days of searching. The other Sherpa, named Dawa, was with a South Korean Everest team, and the Frenchman, Yves Bouchon, was a member of a French-Belgian-Swiss Everest expedition.

Elizabeth Hawley