珠峰登山者描述地震后恐怖景象

KATMANDU, Nepal —Even for Lakpa Rita, a revered Nepalese mountaineer who has reached the summit of Mount Everest 17 times, the roaring wall of boulders, rocks, ice and debris that pulverized much of the mountain’s base camp over the weekend signified a malign new twist in the peak’s destructive powers.

尼泊尔加德满都——上周末席卷而来的巨砾、岩石、冰块及碎片在很大程度上摧毁了珠穆朗玛峰大本营。就算是对于17次登上珠峰峰顶的受人尊敬的尼泊尔登山者拉科帕·里塔(Lakpa Rita)来说，这也意味着这座山峰展现了一种新的可怕的破坏力量。

“Nothing like this has happened before at Everest base camp,” Mr. Rita said by telephone Monday from the camp in eastern Nepal, in the aftermath of the earthquake that set off the avalanche and geological convulsions there. At least 18 people died in the area of the camp, which is 18,000 feet above sea level. “This is a huge, huge avalanche,” he said.

地震发生后，里塔周一在尼泊尔东部的这座营地通过电话表示，“珠峰大本营以前从未遇到这种情况。”此次地震引发了那里的雪崩和地质震动。营地位于海拔1.8万英尺（约合5500米）的地方。在它所在的地区，至少有18人死亡。“这是一场非常大，非常大的雪崩，”他说。

The search for victims’ bodies around the camp, where mountaineers gather before trying to reach Everest’s summit, is likely to be long and difficult.

在营地周围搜寻遇难者遗体很可能是一项漫长且艰巨的任务。在攀登珠峰峰顶之前，登山者会在这座营地汇聚。

Rescue efforts stalled on Monday because of bad weather, after 20 stranded climbers had been evacuated and 11 bodies had been retrieved, Jhankanath Dhakal, the chief district officer of Solukhumbu District, which includes Nepal’s part of Everest, said in a telephone interview. That was after 60 people were evacuated from Everest on Sunday, he said.

索卢坤布的地区长官简卡纳斯·达卡尔(Jhankanath Dhakal)接受电话采访时表示，周一，在撤离20名受困登山者并找到11具遗体之后，由于天气糟糕，救援工作受阻。珠峰位于尼泊尔境内的部分属于他管辖的这一地区。他说，周日有60人从珠峰撤离。

For many tourists and adventurers, visiting Everest — even at the relatively low base camp — fulfills an intensely personal, and expensive, quest to test extremes. But for many ethnic Sherpas employed as local guides, who often take immense pride in their high-altitude skills, the most immediate motivation is a good income.

对于很多游客和探险人士来说，珠峰之行——即便是在海拔较低的大本营——意味着完成一项探索极限的追求，极其个人化，而且费用高昂。然而，对于很多担任当地向导的夏尔巴人来说，最直接的动力就是高收入。他们往往为自己的高海拔技能而感到非常自豪。

Last year, an avalanche killed at least 13 Sherpa guides on Mount Everest, and left three others missing, likely dead. How many Sherpas were among the fatalities at base camp this time was unclear, but Mr. Dhakal, the district official, said the 11 bodies retrieved on Monday included seven Nepalis. Yet even the two successive seasons of tragedy appeared unlikely to deter Sherpa men from taking jobs as paid guides and load-bearers on mountain expeditions.

去年，珠峰发生的一次雪崩导致至少13名夏尔巴人向导死亡，另有3人失踪，很可能也已丧生。目前尚不清楚这一次有多少夏尔巴人在大本营遇难，但地区长官达卡尔表示，周一找到的11具遗体中有7个为尼泊尔人。不过，连续两个登山季发生的悲剧似乎不大可能使夏尔巴人打消通过担任探险向导和挑山工来赚钱的念头。

In Nepal, where the average income is about $700 a year, Sherpas can make $3,000 to $5,000 in a season on Mount Everest, as well as bonuses if they reach the summit.

在尼泊尔，年人均收入为700美元（约合4300元人民币），而夏尔巴人每个登山季可以在珠峰赚到3000至5000美元，如果到达峰顶，还能获得额外的奖励。

“They still do it, especially for the money,” said Jangba Shankar, an employee of a Himalayan mountain guide company who was at the Katmandu Medical College hospital, helping to care for a guide who had been flown down from the Everest base camp with head and neck injuries.

一家喜马拉雅山向导公司的员工贾巴·尚卡尔(Jangba Shankar)表示，“他们仍然在这么做，尤其是为了钱。”尚卡尔接受采访时正在加德满都医学院(Katmandu Medical College)的附属医院帮助照看一名头部和颈部受伤的向导。此人被直升机从珠峰大本营运送下山。

“Some people are not happy because they lost their jobs because of the avalanche,” said Mr. Shankar, referring to the disaster last year. “Some people worry the earthquake will scare away people.”

“有些人因为雪崩而失去了工作，感到不高兴，”尚卡尔谈到去年发生的灾难事件时表示。“还有些人担心这次的地震会把人吓跑。”

Even hardened climbers admitted to being terrified by the wave of destruction.

就连铁杆登山迷都承认，地震的强大破坏力让他们非常害怕。

“I heard a really big thump and then I knew, O.K., the avalanche is coming,” Mariusz Malkowski, a 42-year-old Polish-American engineer and an experienced climber, said on Monday after finding his way out of base camp and eventually to New Delhi. But he said he was not prepared for what he saw: a wave of snow and ice, accompanied by a tremendous gust of air. “Imagine a tsunami,” he said.

“我听到了一声巨响，然后我意识到，好吧，雪崩来了，”42岁的波兰裔美国工程师、经验丰富的登山者马里乌什·马尔科夫斯基(Mariusz Malkowski)周一在找到撤离大本营的途径并最终抵达新德里后表示。但是他说，自己当时并没有为后来见到的景象做好准备：一波又一波的冰雪，伴随着一股强大的气流。“想象一下海啸的场景，”他说。

“Mountains and glaciers shook all around us,” Sean Wisedale, a South African climber and expedition leader, recounted on his blog. “A massive ice slab sheared and thundered into Base Camp. It lifted rocks and boulders ahead of it, slamming into hundreds of tents in the center of the camp and spilling over onto the Khumbu glacier on the other side.”

“我们周围的山体和冰川都在震动，”南非登山者、探险队队长肖恩·怀斯达勒(Sean Wisedale)在他的博客上写道。“一片巨大的冰块断裂，轰隆隆地砸到了大本营里。它掀起前面的岩石和巨砾，砸入大本营中心的数百顶帐篷，还溅落到了另一侧的昆布冰川。”

Members of his team dived into their tents, and then emerged to a different world. “Base Camp was the site of post Armageddon,” he wrote.

他的团队成员躲进帐篷，再出来的时候见到的是另一个世界。“大本营所在地就是世界末日过后，”他写道。

There seems little chance, however, that successive disasters will seriously dull the luster of Mount Everest among visitors. Some foreign trekkers who had left Everest after the earthquake, or had their plans to visit stymied by the disaster, said in interviews in Katmandu that they hoped to return to the mountain. Others said they had seen enough.

不过，接连发生的灾难似乎不大可能严重影响珠峰对游客的吸引力。在震后离开珠峰或者因为这场灾难而使登山计划受阻的一些外国徒步者在加德满都接受采访时说，他们希望能回到山上。其他一些人则表示已经不必再去。

“Emotionally, I felt like this trip was so much bigger than the actual physical journey,” Rob Besecker, who lives in Chicago, said in an interview. He has muscular dystrophy and heart problems, and said he had trekked to the Everest base camp, and other famous or forbidding parts of the world, to show people that illness should not overshadow their lives. He had already left the base camp when the earthquake struck.

“从感情意义来说，我觉得这次旅行比实际上的身体之旅的意义要大很多，”住在芝加哥的罗伯·贝塞克(Rob Besecker)在采访中说。他患有肌肉萎缩症，心脏也有毛病。他表示自己曾徒步抵达珠峰大本营和世界上其他一些著名景点或难以接近的地方，为的是向世人表明，生活不应该笼罩在疾病的阴影之下。地震发生时，他已经离开了大本营。

“I felt there were so many eyes on me that you just got to do it,” Mr. Besecker said. “So there was a physical battle, and an emotional battle.”

“我感觉有很多双眼睛盯着我，必须要这样做，”贝塞克说。“所以这既是一场身体上的战斗，也是一场情感上的战斗。”

When memories of this year’s trauma subside, mountain enthusiasts will return to Everest with the same zeal as before, according to Jiban Ghimire, the managing director of Shangri-La Nepal Trek, a company in Katmandu that provides support to mountaineering teams.

位于加德满都的香格里拉尼泊尔徒步公司(Shangri-La Nepal Trek)为登山队提供支持。公司执行董事吉班·吉米雷(Jiban Ghimire)表示，当关于今年的创痛的记忆退却之时，登山迷们还是会带着同样的热情重返珠峰。

“My experience is that every year something goes wrong,” he said. “But when you cross three months, six months, eight months, people start asking me, ‘Hey Jiban, I want to go back.’”

“我的经验是，每年都会出事，”他说。“不过三个月、六个月或者八个月过后，人们会开始对我说，‘嗨，吉班，我想回去。’”