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| Recriminations Follow Deaths of Hikers in Nepal | Recriminations Follow Deaths of Hikers in Nepal |
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| KATMANDU, Nepal — About a week ago, when Tej Bahadur Gurung, the director of a Himalayan tour company, read reports of a powerful cyclone headed for India, he thought little of it, dismissing it as “just news.” | KATMANDU, Nepal — About a week ago, when Tej Bahadur Gurung, the director of a Himalayan tour company, read reports of a powerful cyclone headed for India, he thought little of it, dismissing it as “just news.” |
| But on Sunday, he said, as unseasonable rains began to lash Katmandu, the Nepalese capital, he began to worry about his colleagues and seven Indian clients trekking the Annapurna Circuit in central Nepal. By that point in their two-week hike, they should have been at Khyang, a village more than 12,000 feet above sea level in the barren ridges of the Himalayas. They were at a point in the trail where their telephones were inoperable, so he called a resident of a village some distance below, and asked him to go up to Khyang by foot, and alert the travelers. He hoped, rather than believed, that this directive would bear fruit. | |
| A guide who worked for his company finally managed to call on Wednesday, still stuck in Khyang, where several feet of snow had accumulated since the storm hit on Tuesday. The guide’s message was short: “We lost three clients. Some Canadians died. We need a rescue.” Then the phone cut out. | A guide who worked for his company finally managed to call on Wednesday, still stuck in Khyang, where several feet of snow had accumulated since the storm hit on Tuesday. The guide’s message was short: “We lost three clients. Some Canadians died. We need a rescue.” Then the phone cut out. |
| “The reports never said that bad weather was coming to Nepal,” said Mr. Gurung, with evident frustration. “I didn’t connect it — I thought it would be a little rain, some snow, some clouds. We are not weather experts.” | “The reports never said that bad weather was coming to Nepal,” said Mr. Gurung, with evident frustration. “I didn’t connect it — I thought it would be a little rain, some snow, some clouds. We are not weather experts.” |
| As the death toll rose to 31 on Friday after this week’s intense snowstorm and avalanche — an aftereffect of the devastating cyclone — many involved in Nepal’s robust, expedition-centered tourism industry began to question why so many hikers were stranded on mountains in the midst of a weather event that appeared to have been predicted. Some tour operators blamed the government for not warning them; others suggested that the trekkers themselves and the companies that ran the tours were eager, perhaps overly so, to complete the trek. | As the death toll rose to 31 on Friday after this week’s intense snowstorm and avalanche — an aftereffect of the devastating cyclone — many involved in Nepal’s robust, expedition-centered tourism industry began to question why so many hikers were stranded on mountains in the midst of a weather event that appeared to have been predicted. Some tour operators blamed the government for not warning them; others suggested that the trekkers themselves and the companies that ran the tours were eager, perhaps overly so, to complete the trek. |
| Meteorologists had some indication that the effects of Cyclone Hudhud would be felt in Nepal well before the snowstorm hit. Michael Fagin, lead forecaster at EverestWeather.com, said he warned his clients about the possibility of fallout from the cyclone on Oct. 3. His clients, experienced climbers on Nepal’s higher peaks, are outfitted with satellite phones and state-of-the-art gear. | Meteorologists had some indication that the effects of Cyclone Hudhud would be felt in Nepal well before the snowstorm hit. Michael Fagin, lead forecaster at EverestWeather.com, said he warned his clients about the possibility of fallout from the cyclone on Oct. 3. His clients, experienced climbers on Nepal’s higher peaks, are outfitted with satellite phones and state-of-the-art gear. |
| But trekkers tackle relatively easier, lower altitudes and are often less experienced and traveling without sophisticated gear. | |
| For guides and trekking companies, many of which lost employees and clients and are now facing the possibility of diminished tourist seasons for years to come, the immediate shock of the disaster gave way to recriminations. | |
| “The government should have alerted the trekking operators and the agencies that this might affect us,” said Mr. Gurung, managing director of Nepal Alternative Treks. The Nepal Meteorological Forecasting Division did issue at least one report about the cyclone, on Sunday, but by that time, many of the trekkers on the Annapurna Circuit were well on their way, and unreachable by phone. | “The government should have alerted the trekking operators and the agencies that this might affect us,” said Mr. Gurung, managing director of Nepal Alternative Treks. The Nepal Meteorological Forecasting Division did issue at least one report about the cyclone, on Sunday, but by that time, many of the trekkers on the Annapurna Circuit were well on their way, and unreachable by phone. |
| To address that shortcoming and prevent more catastrophes, the prime minister of Nepal announced on Thursday that the government would put in place an early weather warning system. | |
| “I want to assure that the government will make efforts to install early warning centers for weather along the important sectors, mainly in the Himalayas areas and along the rivers,” Prime Minister Sushil Koirala said in a statement. | “I want to assure that the government will make efforts to install early warning centers for weather along the important sectors, mainly in the Himalayas areas and along the rivers,” Prime Minister Sushil Koirala said in a statement. |
| But it was unclear whether warnings would have kept trekkers and their guides off the mountains anyway. Many tour operators and guides said they did not usually look to the government for warnings about weather, and described October as the season’s clearest, most ideal month. Kusang Sherpa, a guide working with a group from Terra Ultima, a Quebec-based tour company, said his brother had called him on Oct. 7 to warn him about rains predicted in the area, but he hesitated, unwilling to call off the trek. | But it was unclear whether warnings would have kept trekkers and their guides off the mountains anyway. Many tour operators and guides said they did not usually look to the government for warnings about weather, and described October as the season’s clearest, most ideal month. Kusang Sherpa, a guide working with a group from Terra Ultima, a Quebec-based tour company, said his brother had called him on Oct. 7 to warn him about rains predicted in the area, but he hesitated, unwilling to call off the trek. |
| “This is something we usually find out ourselves,” he said about adverse weather. When the storm hit on Tuesday, he was walking about 15 minutes ahead with some in the group, and he watched as an avalanche buried a colleague and two clients, all women, on the way to Khyang. | “This is something we usually find out ourselves,” he said about adverse weather. When the storm hit on Tuesday, he was walking about 15 minutes ahead with some in the group, and he watched as an avalanche buried a colleague and two clients, all women, on the way to Khyang. |
| Bikram Neupane, rescue coordinator for the Himalayan Rescue Association, said that generally, neither foreign trekkers nor their Nepalese guides check weather forecasts before beginning the journey. “They’re planning these trips for months or years,” he said. “They’re not looking at the weather. They’re not looking at the Internet.” | |
| And even if there are signs of bad weather, trekkers tend to push ahead. “Generally, there’s pressure to keep going,” he said. “They don’t want to turn back.” | And even if there are signs of bad weather, trekkers tend to push ahead. “Generally, there’s pressure to keep going,” he said. “They don’t want to turn back.” |
| Rescue efforts by private trekking companies, a nonprofit expedition association and the Nepalese Army continued on Friday, as some agencies estimated that 100 people were still missing after Tuesday’s storm. | |
| Prakash Adhikari, chief executive of the Himalayan Rescue Association of Nepal, said the death toll could rival or exceed that of the last major trekking disaster, in 1995, when another storm and avalanche killed more than 60 people on the Gokyo Circuit near Mount Everest and required hundreds of trekkers to be evacuated by air. | |
| A member of the Trekking Agencies’ Association of Nepal, who had led a daylong expedition on Thursday, said he expected the death toll to rise, though it was difficult to find either victims or survivors. The army told the agency that it had found four more dead trekkers on Friday. | A member of the Trekking Agencies’ Association of Nepal, who had led a daylong expedition on Thursday, said he expected the death toll to rise, though it was difficult to find either victims or survivors. The army told the agency that it had found four more dead trekkers on Friday. |
| On Thursday, Ang Pemba Sherpa, who worked on the rescue expedition, took a helicopter into the villages in one part of the Annapurna Circuit, in the Manang district. Amid the craggy mountain peaks and snow, the only clues to life were a series of thin tracks in snow that reached six and a half feet deep in places. He followed those tracks on foot and in a helicopter, but found only wild deer. | On Thursday, Ang Pemba Sherpa, who worked on the rescue expedition, took a helicopter into the villages in one part of the Annapurna Circuit, in the Manang district. Amid the craggy mountain peaks and snow, the only clues to life were a series of thin tracks in snow that reached six and a half feet deep in places. He followed those tracks on foot and in a helicopter, but found only wild deer. |
| One series of footsteps, which he was sure belonged to a human, led to a small cave nestled beside icy Tilicho Lake, at 16,000 feet one of the highest lakes in the world. | One series of footsteps, which he was sure belonged to a human, led to a small cave nestled beside icy Tilicho Lake, at 16,000 feet one of the highest lakes in the world. |
| “I tried to walk, but there was this much fresh snow,” he said, pointing to his chest. His helicopter hovered by the cave, hoping to wake resting travelers, but no one came out. | “I tried to walk, but there was this much fresh snow,” he said, pointing to his chest. His helicopter hovered by the cave, hoping to wake resting travelers, but no one came out. |
| Meanwhile, some tour operators are beginning to worry about the threat to their prime seasons. Mr. Fagin said that in the past 10 years, Nepal has been hit with increasingly worse weather stemming from cyclones in October. | Meanwhile, some tour operators are beginning to worry about the threat to their prime seasons. Mr. Fagin said that in the past 10 years, Nepal has been hit with increasingly worse weather stemming from cyclones in October. |
| One tour operator, Sujoy Das, said he had canceled October treks out of a sense that the weather over the past decade in Nepal was slowly changing for the worse. | One tour operator, Sujoy Das, said he had canceled October treks out of a sense that the weather over the past decade in Nepal was slowly changing for the worse. |
| Mr. Gurung said he was not willing to cancel October treks just yet, but agreed that the weather had declined. | Mr. Gurung said he was not willing to cancel October treks just yet, but agreed that the weather had declined. |
| “The weather has been changing for the past two or three years,” he said. “There have been rains, clouds, snow — tourists can’t see anything.” | “The weather has been changing for the past two or three years,” he said. “There have been rains, clouds, snow — tourists can’t see anything.” |