2 Fort Collins climbers tweet after Nepal quake

Two Fort Collins climbers on Mount Everest reported they were safe via social media Saturday after a magnitude 7.8 earthquake in Nepal triggered an avalanche on the mountain.

Jim Davidson is climbing Everest, and Alan Arnette is climbing Mount Lhotse, which follows the Everest route part of the way.

The Associated Press reported at least 10 had died on the mountain, with an unknown number of missing and injured. Some of the climbers not caught in the avalanche may be stranded on routes leading up the mountain.

Davidson tweeted and posted on Facebook a couple of hours after the earthquake that he was at Camp 1 and noted there had been an earthquake and avalanche.

"We're safe at camp 1. Apparent earthquake. We had avi nearby, powder blast & glacier moved. Injuries in basecamp. Staying put."

A tweet about 3 hours prior to the earthquake reported Davidson and his team had gotten to the camp, above the Khumbu Icefall where the avalanche occurred.

Arnette tweeted a garbled voice recording in which he confirmed the earthquake and said he was at camp 2 with his Madison Mountaineering team.

Only days ago, Arnette blogged from Everest Base Camp, reflecting on the one-year anniversary of Everest's most deadly avalanche, which killed 16.

The avalanche began on Mount Kumori, a 22,966-foot-high mountain just a few miles from Everest, gathering strength as it headed toward the base camp where climbing expeditions have been preparing to make their summit attempts in the coming weeks, said Ang Tshering of the Nepal Mountaineering Association.

The avalanche — or perhaps a series of avalanches hidden in a massive white cloud — plowed into a part of base camp, a sprawling seasonal village of climbers, guides and porters, flattening at least 30 tents, Tshering said. With communication very limited at Everest, it was not immediately clear how many of those injured and killed were at base camp, and how many were elsewhere on the mountain.

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Gordon Janow, the director of programs for the Washington-based guiding outfit Alpine Ascents International, said from Seattle that his team had come through the avalanche unscathed. Their first goal was to deal with the devastation at base camp, he said, and they would then try to create new routes to help climbers stuck above the treacherous Khumbu Icefall. The icefall, which is just above base camp, is a key route up the lower part of Everest.

"Everybody's pretty much in rescue mode, but this is different from some independent climbing accident where people can be rescued and taken somewhere else," Janow said. "I don't know where somewhere else is."

While helicopters would normally be used to pluck stranded climbers, it was unclear whether any would be available for Everest, given the devastation in and around Kathmandu.

An official with Nepal's mountaineering department, Gyanendra Shrestha, said the bodies of 10 people had been recovered and an unknown number remained missing or injured. Their nationalities were unclear as climbers described chaotic attempts to treat the injured amid fears of more landslides and aftershocks that continue to rattle the region. Chinese media reported that a Chinese climber and two Sherpa guides were among the dead.

Dan Fredinburg, a Google executive who described himself as an adventurer, was among the dead, Google confirmed. Lawrence You, the company's director of privacy, posted online that Fredinburg was with three other Google employees hiking Mount Everest. The other three, he added, are safe. Fredinburg served as product manager and the head of privacy at Google X.

Hundreds of climbers — ranging from some of the world's most experienced mountaineers to relative novices on high-priced, well-guided trips — make summit attempts on Everest every year. At times, when the weather is agreeable, dozens of people can reach the summit in a single day. But high winds, brutal cold, difficult terrain and massive avalanches can hit the mountain with little or no notice. Hundreds of people have died on the mountain over the years.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Follow the climbers:

Jim Davidson: www.facebook.com/ResiliencewithJimDavidson, twitter.com/ClimberJim@ClimberJim, www.speakingofadventure.com

Alan Arnette: www.alanarnette.com/blog/, twitter.com/alan_arnette