On 13th July 2018, around 8:15am, Pemba Sherpa disappeared down a crevasse above Camp-I (around 5750m). He was on his way back from the summit of Saser Kangri IV (7416m) with four other climbers.
Between 13th July and 15th July, efforts by the team members and Sherpas proved fruitless. The leader of this expedition Basanta Singha Roy, who had earlier left Base Camp, and was down below at the road-head during the accident, said in his post-expedition interview, that the whole team, having given up all hope of rescue/recovery, evacuated the BC on 15th July.
Between 15th July and 31st July, 2018, a sustained effort of recovery was again made by Indian Armed Forces comprising of soldiers from the ITBP (Indo-Tibetan Border Police) and Siachen Battle School (SBS reached on 24th July).
Inside the crevasse
Despite interruptions due to inclement weather, they did manage to climb down as far as possible till the crevasse became too narrow to negotiate.
Unfortunately, their valiant efforts proved unsuccessful and they did not find any trace of Pemba Sherpa, but they did manage to recover his loaded Rucksack weighing about 35kgs. The belongings are to be handed over to the bereaved family.
An exclusive source from ITBP reports, "the SBS team reached on 24th July. They went down into the crevasse as far as possible to the point beyond which the crevasse was not negotiable. A rucksack packed with ropes, gears etc. was recovered. The firmly stuck rucksack was found with its straps broken; probably breaking free from Pemba's Shoulder as it got stuck and Pemba kept falling due to gravity."
Rucksack of Pemba inside the crevasse
After a thorough search, the recovery team left on 31st July. They presume that Pemba must have slipped right down to the bottom of the glacier, and was carried away by the large volume of water flowing below the glacier.
Pemba Sherpa's icy tomb tragically leaves behind just a "patch of blue", the sky and his rucksack.
This article first appeared on Dreamwanderlust. The original can be read here .