Some good news arrived from Everest yesterday when we received word that 69-year old Italian climber Luigi Rampini was rescued on the North Side of the mountain. As was widely reported earlier in the week, Rampini was climbing on the Montarosa permit and was believed to have perished at Camp 2 when he was unable to descend in bad weather.
According to this story, bad weather prevented Rampini from coming down the mountain on Sunday, but a rescue mission was launched on Tuesday to try to retrieve him. The weather once again hampered those efforts on Tuesday, but yesterday a team of five climbers managed to reach Rampini and administer first aid. The Italian is said to be suffering from mild frostbite on his fingers and nose.
The news of this rescue actually reduces the number of fatalities on Everest this year down to ten. That is still obviously more than we’d ever like to hear, but when you consider the number of people on the mountain, it is a very low percentage. Hopefully the teams headed up in the next few days will all safely get up and down without further adding to the number.
Thanks to Alan Arnette for the update on Luigi.
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