Avalanche Cascades Down The Slopes Of Everest After Nepal Earthquake

By Tom Midlane @GoldenLatrine

THE earthquake in Nepal triggered Mount Everest's worst ever disaster - killing at least 17 and leaving 61 injured, with many other stranded on the fearsome mountain's slopes

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Videographer / Director: Carsten Lillelund Pedersen
Producer: Tom Midlane
Editor: Joshua Douglas

DANGER: Climber Carsten Lillelund Pedersen was able to take this image from Mount Everest base camp of the avalanche as it cascades down the slopes as a direct result of the Earthquake that hit Nepal

Carsten Lillelund Pedersen, a Dane who was climbing Everest with Belgian climber Jelle Veyt, when the earthquake hit

BARRIER: The stone puja Carsten hid behind when the avalanche caught up to him

WEARY: Carsten Lillelund Pedersen, a Dane who was climbing Everest with Belgian climber Jelle Veyt, when the avalanche hit

The pair were descending from the Khumbu Icefall - the expanse of glacier which leads to the higher slopes - when they saw the avalanche and sprinted back to base camp.

INJURIES: A dining tent at Mount Everest base camp was turned into a temporary hospital, with avalanche survivors being treated for head injuries and fractures

Carsten was able to run and shelter behind a stone puja, but other climbers were buried and injured in the onrushing snow.

VICTIMS: An exterior view of the dining tent which was turned into a makeshift medical area

He said: "We just got out of the icefall when we felt the earthquake and then shit happened and we ran for our life to try to outrun the avalanche, but we did not make it.

"I did not reach the tents and I had to hide behind the the stone puja. I could not see anything and it was hard to breath."

One of the dining tents at Everest base camp was turned into a makeshift hospital for those injured in the avalanche.

A makeshift helipad was also cleared to allow critically injured patients to be airlifted to hospital for treatment.

Carsten said: "We have seen many injured here, and a lot are here with back injuries, hit by rocks and ice when running from the avalanche."