Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Utah families are anxious about loved ones after an earthquake shook Nepal and triggered an avalanche on Mount Everest.
Three Utah residents, Park City's Ellen Gallant, Randall Ercanbrack and his daughter Haley, of Orem, and Apa Sherpa, of Draper, have been confirmed as being safe. The quake killed at least 4,000 people, including at least 18 who died when an avalanche swept through an Everest base camp used extensively by climbers.
This is Gallant's second Everest avalanche, the Salt Lake Tribune reports (http://bit.ly/1FrS7JG). On April 18, 2014, Gallant, a cardiologist, helped treat climbers at base camp when an avalanche killed 16.
Gallant, a woman in her 40s who quit her job last year to commit full time to training for the climb, was with Himalayan Experience on her most recent climb. The expedition team posted on their website that everyone in their group was safe.
Sherpa, who holds the world record for summits on Mount Everest, was in Nepal with a group of Utah residents when the quake hit. No one in that group was injured. Andrew Riddle, whose daughter was with Sherpa, told the Tribune (http://bit.ly/1PMUQAu ) his daughter was not hurt, but she called and told him she had seen someone hit by a landslide from the suspension bridge she was on when the quake struck.
"They could see landslides happening in front of them, the bridge started to shake violently, and Apa was in front of them," Riddle said.
Ercanbrack and his daughter, who were with the Seattle-based guide service Madison Mountaineering, were separated by the avalanche, KSL-TV reports (http://bit.ly/1GAT0kL). Ercanbrack is at Gorak Shep, below base camp, while Hayley is at Everest Camp Two.
"They're going to wake up and go to Camp One and hope to be evacuated by helicopter," said Kevin Warner, a friend of Ecanbrack's who has been checking in with Madison Mountaineering, "but that's not a real easy thing to do."
Copyright © The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
