珠峯登山者描述地震後恐怖景象

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.

尼泊爾加德滿都——上週末席捲而來的巨礫、岩石、冰塊及碎片在很大程度上摧毀了珠穆朗瑪峯大本營。就算是對於17次登上珠峯峯頂的受人尊敬的尼泊爾登山者拉科帕·裏塔(Lakpa Rita)來說，這也意味着這座山峯展現了一種新的可怕的破壞力量。

“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.

地震發生後，裏塔週一在尼泊爾東部的這座營地通過電話表示，“珠峯大本營以前從未遇到這種情況。”此次地震引發了那裏的雪崩和地質震動。營地位於海拔1.8萬英尺（約合5500米）的地方。在它所在的地區，至少有18人死亡。“這是一場非常大，非常大的雪崩，”他說。

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.

在營地周圍搜尋遇難者遺體很可能是一項漫長且艱鉅的任務。在攀登珠峯峯頂之前，登山者會在這座營地匯聚。

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.

索盧坤布的地區長官簡卡納斯·達卡爾(Jhankanath Dhakal)接受電話採訪時表示，週一，在撤離20名受困登山者並找到11具遺體之後，由於天氣糟糕，救援工作受阻。珠峯位於尼泊爾境內的部分屬於他管轄的這一地區。他說，週日有60人從珠峯撤離。

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.

對於很多遊客和探險人士來說，珠峯之行——即便是在海拔較低的大本營——意味着完成一項探索極限的追求，極其個人化，而且費用高昂。然而，對於很多擔任當地嚮導的夏爾巴人來說，最直接的動力就是高收入。他們往往爲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，珠峯發生的一次雪崩導致至少13名夏爾巴人嚮導死亡，另有3人失蹤，很可能也已喪生。目前尚不清楚這一次有多少夏爾巴人在大本營遇難，但地區長官達卡爾表示，週一找到的11具遺體中有7個爲尼泊爾人。不過，連續兩個登山季發生的悲劇似乎不大可能使夏爾巴人打消通過擔任探險嚮導和挑山工來賺錢的念頭。

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.

在尼泊爾，年人均收入爲700美元（約合4300元人民幣），而夏爾巴人每個登山季可以在珠峯賺到3000至5000美元，如果到達峯頂，還能獲得額外的獎勵。

“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.

一家喜馬拉雅山向導公司的員工賈巴·尚卡爾(Jangba Shankar)表示，“他們仍然在這麼做，尤其是爲了錢。”尚卡爾接受採訪時正在加德滿都醫學院(Katmandu Medical College)的附屬醫院幫助照看一名頭部和頸部受傷的嚮導。此人被直升機從珠峯大本營運送下山。

“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.”

“有些人因爲雪崩而失去了工作，感到不高興，”尚卡爾談到去年發生的災難事件時表示。“還有些人擔心這次的地震會把人嚇跑。”

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

就連鐵桿登山迷都承認，地震的強大破壞力讓他們非常害怕。

“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.

“我聽到了一聲巨響，然後我意識到，好吧，雪崩來了，”42歲的波蘭裔美國工程師、經驗豐富的登山者馬裏烏什·馬爾科夫斯基(Mariusz Malkowski)週一在找到撤離大本營的途徑並最終抵達新德里後表示。但是他說，自己當時並沒有爲後來見到的景象做好準備：一波又一波的冰雪，伴隨着一股強大的氣流。“想象一下海嘯的場景，”他說。

“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.”

“我們周圍的山體和冰川都在震動，”南非登山者、探險隊隊長肖恩·懷斯達勒(Sean Wisedale)在他的博客上寫道。“一片巨大的冰塊斷裂，轟隆隆地砸到了大本營裏。它掀起前面的岩石和巨礫，砸入大本營中心的數百頂帳篷，還濺落到了另一側的昆布冰川。”

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.

他的團隊成員躲進帳篷，再出來的時候見到的是另一個世界。“大本營所在地就是世界末日過後，”他寫道。

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.

不過，接連發生的災難似乎不大可能嚴重影響珠峯對遊客的吸引力。在震後離開珠峯或者因爲這場災難而使登山計劃受阻的一些外國徒步者在加德滿都接受採訪時說，他們希望能回到山上。其他一些人則表示已經不必再去。

“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.

“從感情意義來說，我覺得這次旅行比實際上的身體之旅的意義要大很多，”住在芝加哥的羅伯·貝塞克(Rob Besecker)在採訪中說。他患有肌肉萎縮症，心臟也有毛病。他表示自己曾徒步抵達珠峯大本營和世界上其他一些著名景點或難以接近的地方，爲的是向世人表明，生活不應該籠罩在疾病的陰影之下。地震發生時，他已經離開了大本營。

“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.”

“我感覺有很多雙眼睛盯着我，必須要這樣做，”貝塞克說。“所以這既是一場身體上的戰鬥，也是一場情感上的戰鬥。”

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.

位於加德滿都的香格里拉尼泊爾徒步公司(Shangri-La Nepal Trek)爲登山隊提供支持。公司執行董事吉班·吉米雷(Jiban Ghimire)表示，當關於今年的創痛的記憶退卻之時，登山迷們還是會帶着同樣的熱情重返珠峯。

“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.’”

“我的經驗是，每年都會出事，”他說。“不過三個月、六個月或者八個月過後，人們會開始對我說，‘嗨，吉班，我想回去。’”