If they have food/fuel for a couple days then there is time to plan a rescue that minimizes risk to all involved. The last thing anyone needs right now is rash action.
I’m not sure they do, that’s the problem. Plus, every day they wait up there they are getting weaker.
It’s my understanding that no one was above Camp 2 at this point, and the death zone is higher up the mountain than that, Camp 4, I think. You can’t stay at 1 or 2 forever but it’s far less serious than being higher up the mountain.
Fuel is probably more important than food at this point, because fuel is needed for water and keeping warm. You can go a day or two without food without a huge impact. It’s not fun but it’s not nearly as life threatening a lack of water or warmth.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/video-dozens-stuck-everest-20-043059102.html
They flew 180 climbers down from Camp 1 today, sounds like they took 2 at a time. Must have been a huge effort but it looks like it was done safely.
Among the dead is a Google executive leading a team to establish a “Street View” of the trip to Base Camp.
A bit off-topic, but I was quite disappointed with our newspaper yesterday, and its lack of coverage. My wife gets the Sunday paper so she can look at the ads. The Detroit Free Press chose to lead with a totally-not-urgent story about a gay marriage related court case. The Nepal earthquake was buried inside (no pun intended). Even by Saturday night, when I assume this decision was made, it was clear that this was shaping up to be a major natural disaster. Seriously, people. By Sunday morning, the death toll was already around 1500. Save gay marriage for page 9, or wait for a slower news day.
There’s room for both on the front page.
Was the gay marriage case in Detroit, or at least Michigan? I could see a paper wanting to rank a story with local impact higher than one on the other side of the world.
I am still not seeing much information about how many people are currently missing on Everest. We know the fate of most of the people at Base camp, and there were climbers trapped at Camp One and Camp Two who are being rescued. But how many others are unaccounted for at this time? I also have not heard much of anything about climbers on other major mountains near Everest. I suppose in the context of all the massive earthquake deaths and destruction this information may be a long time in coming.
I think it probably took a while for news and photographs to make their way out of Nepal.
It’s early in the climbing season, so few if any climbers were higher than Camp 2. In the climbing news there are reports from other mountains and most climbing teams were similarly placed. I haven’t read of any other deaths and on many mountains everyone is down and/or accounted for.
Yeah, but who’s gonna be top and who’s gonna be bottom?
Everest is higher. 
Looks as if they are going to try and reopen Everest again this spring. Hard to imagine climbers going back so soon after the earthquake.
Surely you mean next spring? At best they’d try to rebuild base camp this year.
This is the second year in a row the kibosh was put on climbing Everest, isn’t it?
No, the Icefall Doctors will start rebuilding the route through the Khumbu next week and climbing could start soon after that. Basecamp is big, but it’s not really a complex encampment. If the supplies are there, the big issue is getting them up the mountain.
I’m a bit surprised, but I guess I shouldn’t be.
tv news say the sherpas will not be rebuilding the route this year.
Glad to hear it. Climbing resources might be better used elsewhere at this time. Of course, this is easy for me to say as I haven’t shelled out tens of thousands of dollars and at least a year of training to get in the position to attempt a climb, nor am I dependent on climbing income to support my family.
On the practical side, it seems to me a rushed job setting up a climb in a time when aftershocks are still a real possibility would increase the odds of becoming a landmark instead of a successful summiter. (I was going to post a link to Everest Dead Body Landmarks here…but the images are just too graphic. If you want to see them, just google.)