聖母峰基地營旁的直昇機殘骸

最近因為 Jeff 的EBC基地營照片刊載在「一個人去旅行」的書中，所以又回到各旅伴的部落格逛逛，真的是發現每個人去旅行都會有不同的視野！還記得EBC健行第九天，我們終於到達了聖母峰基地營，這是征服世界第一高峰的入口，而只是普通人的我，以朝聖的心情在此仰望八千公尺的無盡山峰。

當時的我，其實已經隱隱感到高山低壓對我身體的影響，所以這一路上並不敢背上攝影器材，所以只好麻煩阿發幫我拍些記錄照，而這張正是我發現坤布冰河上躺的一台直昇機殘骸，而請阿發替我拍下這一張照片。

什麼事都很認真的阿發，回國後馬上查了這台直昇機的所有底細：這一台是2003/05/28墜毀的俄國製的Mi-17直昇機，原本是要載完成攀登聖母峰的人回到加德滿都。在降落聖母峰基地營時，不幸失事墜毀在坤布冰河上。現在仍可看到斷成兩半的機體和機尾，旁邊散落著引擎，其他零件殘骸。

在2005/06/02，又發生一架直昇機在降落聖母峰基地營時，失事墜毀。很幸運地，沒有人死亡。聖母峰基地營因為空氣較稀薄和氣候問題，直昇機起降落很危險。這兩次墜機的飛行都不是為緊急目的，而是載運人員回加德滿都，省下山的時間。因為能飛高海拔的直昇機很少，為避免真的緊急時，沒有直昇機可以用。所以有人開始提倡直昇機只用在緊急的用途上，而不是當空中計程車上面，浪費資源。

這是阿發查到的新聞

BBC 新聞：2003/05/25 聖母峰基地營 致命的直昇機墜毀

Fatal helicopter crash on Everest

Last Updated: Wednesday, 28 May, 2003, 16:04 GMT 17:04 UK

Two people were killed and several others injured when a helicopter crashed while trying to land at Everest Base Camp in Nepal.

The accident happened a day before golden jubilee celebrations in the area to mark the first successful ascent of the world's highest mountain. The privately owned helicopter with nine people on board was due to take a team of climbers back to the Nepalese capital, Kathmandu.
Television pictures showed the helicopter flying low over base camp before it disappeared over a ridge and crashed into a glacier in a thick cloud of smoke. Aviation officials said the two people who died were Nepalese. The seriously injured have been airlifted to hospital. Witnesses said the aircraft's wheels caught the edge of a stone shelter as it came in to land.

We saw rotor blades flying in the air followed by smoke

BBC correspondent Tom HeapRead his eyewitness reportCrash in pictures (事件經過的照片，直昇機降落，墜毀，救援)

The BBC's Jane Hughes says flying into Everest Base Camp is inherently dangerous because the air is so thin and there is only just enough lift for the helicopter blades. She adds that the accident underlines the great risks taken, particularly by local people, to support mountaineering around Everest.

Several fatal accidents have occurred in the area since the jubilee celebrations got under way to mark the conquest of Everest in 1953 by Sir Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay.Earlier on Wednesday, the body of an Indian climber was carried down the mountain. He died after falling down a crevasse.

'Let the mountain rest'

The helicopter had reportedly gone to base camp to fetch Lakpa Gelu Sherpa who this week established a speed climbing record by climbing the mountain in 10 hours and 46 minutes, according to Nepalnews.com. A record number of climbers have been assembling on Everest to ascend the tallest peak on the golden jubilee year - and a large party of international media has been there to cover the event. School children greeted those who planted trees in memory of Everest's victims On the eve of the anniversary, Edmund Hillary voiced his concerns for the future of Everest and urged the Nepalese authorities to stop issuing climbing licences for a few years, to give the mountain a rest.

He was also scathing of modern-day climbers.
"Just sitting around base camp knocking back cans of beer I don't particularly regard as mountaineering," he told a press conference in Kathmandu.

Up to 500 of the more than 1,300 climbers who have reached Everest's summit over the last 50 years are expected to attend the celebrations on Thursday.

On Wednesday, around 200 of them gathered on a picturesque hillside to plant trees in memory of those who have died on Everest.

Jamling Norgay Sherpa, the son of Tenzing Norgay, joined the many families and friends at the service in Memorial Park at Kakani, around 40 kilometres (25 miles) north of Kathmandu.
The event also marks the start of attempts to re-green Nepal, which has lost many of its forests particularly in the Everest region.

"It's good to see the summiteers planting trees - it's a good way to preserve the environment," said Jamling Norgay, who followed in his father's footsteps to the summit in 1996.