Tag: mountains (by name)

Melting ice reveals remains of climber lost on glacier 37 years ago | CNN

Berlin
CNN
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The remains of a German mountain climber who went missing 37 years ago while hiking along a glacier near Switzerland’s iconic Matterhorn have been recovered, as melting glaciers lead to the re-emergence of bodies and objects thought to be long lost.

Climbers hiking along the Theodul Glacier in Zermatt on July 12 discovered human remains and several pieces of equipment, police in the Valais canton said in a statement Thursday.

“DNA analysis enabled the identification of a mountain climber who had been missing since 1986,” police said in a statement. “In September 1986, a German climber, who was 38 at the time, had been reported missing after not returning from a hike.”

Police said that searches for the disappeared climber at the time proved unsuccessful.

The climber’s remains underwent a forensic analysis at Valais Hospital, allowing experts to link them to the 1986 disappearance, police added Thursday.

Police did not provide additional information of the German alpinist’s identity nor on the circumstances of his death.

Authorities released a photograph of a lone hiking boot with red laces sticking out of the snow, along with some hiking equipment that had belonged to the missing person.

“The recession of the glaciers increasingly brings to light missing alpinists who were reported missing several decades ago,” police concluded in the statement.

The discovery of the remains of the German climber comes as scientists revealed earlier this week that this month is on track to be the planet’s hottest in around 120,000 years.

Glaciologist Lindsey Nicholson at the University of Innsbruck, in Austria, told CNN Friday that shrinking glaciers due to climate change have led to the discovery of bodies of climbers who disappeared.

“As the glaciers retreat, any material – including people who have fallen into or onto them and have been buried by subsequent snow – will emerge. All glaciers are melting very fast and receding across the European Alps,” Nicholson said.

Last year, Swiss glaciers recorded their worst melt rate since records began more than a century ago, losing 6% of their remaining volume in 2022, nearly double the previous record of 2003, Reuters reported.

The melt was so extreme in 2022 that bare rock that had remained buried for millennia re-emerged at one site while bodies and even a plane lost elsewhere in the Alps decades ago were recovered.

In 2015, the remains of two Japanese climbers who went missing on the Matterhorn in a 1970 snowstorm were found and their identities confirmed through the DNA testing of their relatives.

“The glaciers are undergoing a long-term trend of melting,” Nicholson said, adding the trend is expected to continue, with “low snow years” contributing to the problem.

“The reduced snow amount is also partly coupled to the change in temperatures, because what happens is some of the precipitation that … would have come in the form of snow, now comes in the form of rain. That does not help the glaciers, it works against them,” she added.

Even if ambitious climate targets are met, up to half of the world’s glaciers could disappear by the end of the century, according to recent research.

“If we continue with the emissions we are transmitting now, we are looking at a largely deglaciated Alps region for generations to come – and that is very sad,” Nicholson warned.

The disappearance of glaciers will have cascading impacts.

Glaciers play a vital role in providing fresh water for nearly 2 billion people and they are also a key contributor to sea level rise.

“Some regions of the world are much more dependent on the glacier mountains than we are here – in some cases they are much more vulnerable than the Alps,” Nicholson added.

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July 28, 2023
Six killed in Nepal helicopter crash near Mount Everest | CNN

CNN
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Six people have died in a helicopter crash in Nepal, a spokesperson for Kathmandu’s Tribhuvan International Airport said Tuesday.

The Manang Air helicopter was carrying five Mexican passengers and a Nepali pilot, Teknath Sitoula told CNN.

Reuters reported that Manang Air caters to tourists wanting a view of Nepal’s peaks, including Mount Everest, the world’s tallest mountain.

It set off from Solukhumbu district, where Everest is situated, at 10:05 a.m. local time (12:20 a.m. ET) on Tuesday, heading for the capital, Kathmandu, according to a statement issued by the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal.

The helicopter lost contact less than 10 minutes later, at 10:13 a.m., and was later found crashed in Solukhumbu’s rural municipality of Likhupike, according to the authority.

It added that locals and police who reached the crash site found the bodies of all on board.

“All six bodies have been located. We are now starting the process to take them to Kathmandu. It will take some time because it means traveling by road from the crash site and then flying to Kathmandu,” Sitoula told CNN.

He added that the cause of the crash has not yet been determined.

Nepal’s inclement weather, low visibility and mountainous topography all contribute to its reputation as notoriously dangerous for aviation.

In January, at least 68 people were killed when an aircraft went down near the city of Pokhara in central Nepal. This was the Himalayan nation’s deadliest plane crash in more than 30 years.

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July 12, 2023
The ultra-wealthy have dangerous pastimes. Who pays when they need saving? | CNN Business

New York
CNN
—

Throughout history, humans have proved incapable of resisting the allure of the Earth’s extremes — its tallest mountains, deepest oceans, even the outer limits of its atmosphere.

And as technology has evolved, a sprawling industry of extreme tourism has emerged to give people — mostly wealthy people — a chance to stare down death with a considerable safety net. For the right price, you can ascend or descend to the planet’s nooks and crannies, briefly occupying spaces that only a handful of people in history have ever been, or will ever be.

Of course, even the best, most expensive safety net can fail.

This week’s catastrophic implosion of the OceanGate submersible Titan killed all five of its passengers, many of whom paid a quarter of a million dollars for the opportunity to travel two miles below the water’s surface. Across the globe, on Mount Everest, where guided trips cost tens of thousands of dollars at minimum, 17 people have died or are missing in what is likely to be the deadliest season on the mountain in recorded history. This past spring, five people, including 56-year-old Czech billionaire Petr Kellner, died in a crash while heliskiing in Alaska.

Submersible travel, high-altitude mountaineering and heliskiing share little in common apart from two facts: They are taken up primarily by the wealthy, and they have a very narrow margin for error. And when people need saving in some of the world’s most unforgiving places, those rescue costs can add up, fast.

You might imagine that the prospect of an adventure with a higher-than-normal chance of killing you would be a turn-off. But for many well-heeled travelers, the risk is precisely the point.

“Part of the appeal of Everest — and I think it’s the same for the Titanic, going into space, or whatever — is risk,” said Lukas Furtenbach, founder of mountaineering firm Furtenbach Adventures.

“And I think as long as people die in these places, it’s part of the reason people want to go there,” said Furtenbach, whose company offers a $220,000 premium option to climb Mount Everest with unlimited oxygen and one-on-one guidance.

After an especially deadly season, Furtenbach says, demand for the following season tends to spike.

Permits for Everest increased significantly in the years after 1996, a season that ended the lives of 12 climbers and became the subject of international media attention, including the bestselling book “Into Thin Air” by Jon Krakauer.

“Every catastrophic season — I would say an average of every three to five years — we can see a big increase of permits issued,” Furtenbach says.

“If climbing Everest would be 100% safe, I think this would be the end of the adventure.”

Similarly, this week’s tragedy in the North Atlantic appears unlikely to curb demand for deep-sea visits to the Titanic. On the contrary, its global prominence may fuel interest.

Philippe Brown, founder of luxury travel firm Brown and Hudson, said his firm still has a long waitlist for its Titanic tours, which it runs in partnership with OceanGate, the sub operator behind the Titan.

“We sense no particular anxiety, no one has canceled anything so far, and inquiries for our services have increased,” Brown said. “We have seen a significant uptick in requests” for memberships, which cost between $12,000 and $120,000 a year.

The search for the Titan brought international media attention, and with that, potential explorers got a reminder of the potential to see the Titanic firsthand. Brown said that travelers may become more interested now because they anticipate that the incident will prompt greater regulation and improved technology.

“Sadly, sometimes tragedies are the catalysts to progress.”

Ethical debates among adventurists and academics have raged for decades about how, and even whether, rescue missions should be carried out for wayward travelers.

When the Titan went missing Sunday, it prompted a massive search operation led by the US Coast Guard with French and Canadian authorities. US officials haven’t commented publicly on the cost of the five-day mission, though experts estimate the figure is in the millions.

“When things go awry for the traveler at places of so-called extreme tourism, then the financial cost of rescue and remedy often falls to the emergency services or the charities that are tasked with helping people,” said Philip Stone, director of the Institute for Dark Tourism Research at the University of Central Lancashire.

In the case of significant rescue missions, such as the Titan sub incident, “which will run into millions of dollars,” taxpayers will ultimately pick up the bill, he said.

“Governments are tasked with protecting lives, and despite the folly of some individuals diving to see the Titanic in an unregulated vessel, these lives are worth saving,” Stone added.

In the United States, neither the Coast Guard nor the National Park Service charge the people for their rescue. But some states such as New Hampshire and Oregon will compel hikers who are rescued from state parks to foot the bill for their own rescue, in part to deter inexperienced tourists from venturing too far off the beaten path.

Part of the reason for that, one retired Coast Guard member told Insider this week, is that in a life-or-death situation, worrying over the potential cost of rescue shouldn’t weigh on anyone’s decision to call for help.

Should people be prevented from taking on such incredible risk if it raises the possibility of an expensive rescue? Victor Vescovo, a private equity investor and retired naval officer, doesn’t think so.

“Just because it’s expensive, and it’s out of the reach of most people, doesn’t mean it’s in any way a negative thing,” said Vescovo, a prominent undersea explorer who has helped design and build submersibles. “And I think it’s very difficult to judge people on how they spend money that they may have worked their whole lives to accumulate to use as they see fit.”

Not all deep-sea exploration is dangerous, nor is there anything inherently wrong with wealthy people splurging on high-risk adventures, he said.

“No one talks about people spending thousands of dollars to go to amusement park destinations or other tourist locations,” Vescovo said. “This is just more extreme.”

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June 24, 2023
Karakorum: Mongolia’s ancient capital is a cultural delight | CNN

Editor’s Note: This CNN Travel series is, or was, sponsored by the country it highlights. CNN retains full editorial control over subject matter, reporting and frequency of the articles and videos within the sponsorship, in compliance with our policy.

Karakorum, Mongolia
CNN
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Karakorum is known by many names and even more reputations. Once the home of the world’s most famous Khan, this ancient city quickly became one of the Silk Road’s most important – and progressive – convergence points.

Located in Mongolia’s Övörkhangai province, Karakorum and its surrounding landscapes are among the best places to visit in Mongolia today.

Located just 350 kilometers from Ulaanbaatar, the country’s modern-day capital city, the road to Karakorum is an essential drive on any Mongolia travel itinerary not only for its beauty, but for its history.

It’s this same East meets West route that was once traveled by Turks, Chinese, Uighurs, Sogdians, Hungarians, Greeks, Armenians, Alans and Georgians. By diplomats, traders, artisans and merchants all looking to trade silk, spices, tea, ivory, cotton, wool and precious metals, as well as ideas.

Because of this, Karakorum quickly became a place where cultures would intertwine and learn to live in harmony with one another. Despite many of the connotations about Genghis Khan and his empire many of us hold today, Karakorum was a city built on understanding and acceptance.

It was a place where different religious practices were accepted, with at least 12 different pagan temples, two mosques, a church and at least one Buddhist temple located inside the city’s walls.

The city’s glory was, however, short lived. Kublai Khan eventually moved the empire’s capital to Beijing only 50 years after development first began. With harsh temperatures and a vulnerability to attacks, the city’s inhabitants didn’t stay around for long after that, and Karakorum quickly turned into a pile of rubble.

The Karakorum we see today may be nothing like it was in the days of the Great Khan, but with a recent vow from the president of Mongolia to revitalize this culturally significant city in the coming years, there’s a brighter future on the horizon.

Until then, there are still plenty of reasons to visit.

As a country with a nomadic culture Mongolia doesn’t have many traces of its past still standing. Even today, much of the Mongol’s history as one of the largest and most powerful empires in the world is a mystery still being pieced together.

Besides “The Secret History of the Mongols,” not many written accounts from the Mongolian Empire, as told by Mongols, remain. Archeological sites around Karakorum are still filling in many blanks.

Excavations in and around Karakorum have discovered paved roads, remains of brick and adobe buildings, floor-heating systems, bed stoves, evidence of the processing of copper, gold, silver, iron, glass, jewels, bones and birch bark, as well as coins from China and Central Asia, ceramics and four kilns.

Many of these discoveries, and the stories around them, can be found in the Karakorum Museum, a sleek and modern attraction in the heart of the city.

None of the artifacts and exhibitions, however, are as enthralling as the tale of the Silver Tree – a once ornate fountain that was the centerpiece of the Mongol capital.

According to the legend, the tree was adorned with silver fruit and flowing with various alcoholic drinks, including wine, fermented mare’s milk (airag), rice wine and honey mead, all for the grandsons of Genghis Khan and his invited guests.

The Silver Tree hasn’t been discovered and was most likely dismantled during one of the city’s raids, but the tale of it is enough to fill our own cups just like it once did those of the Mongol royals.

Back in 1585 when Karakorum was abandoned and falling into ruin, the city’s salvation came in the form of a Buddhist monastery commissioned by the then Khalkha-Mongolian prince.

It was the prince’s meeting with the third Dalai Lama, and his declaration of Tibetan Buddhism as the state religion of Mongolia, that would make Erdene Zuu Monastery the first Buddhist monastery in Mongolia.

During the Soviet purges of the 1930s, Stalin himself saved a few of the main temples from being destroyed, calling them symbols of religious freedom. The monastery complex was eventually converted into a museum.

After the fall of the Soviet Union, the monastery again became active, but nothing like its former days. At its peak, the monastery was home to more than 100 temples, around 300 yurts, and 1,000 monks in residence.

Today, Erdene Zuu Monastery is one of Mongolia’s most sacred Buddhist temples, with Buddhist-practicing Mongols vowing to visit the complex at least once in their lives.

The Laviran Temple at the back of the complex is where monks can be found chanting, practicing musical instruments and providing sacred readings daily.

Another Karakorum highlight is the Erdenesiin Khuree Mongolian Calligraphy Center – among the best reasons to visit Mongolia, especially this summer.

With a recent expansion and the ability to offer a wider array of workshops and exhibitions that go beyond Mongolian calligraphy, the center focuses on promoting all aspects of Mongolian heritage.

Concerts featuring traditional Mongolian music as well as masterclasses on khoomei, or traditional Mongolian throat singing, will be held throughout the summer.

In September, the center plans to open a ceramic workshop.

While Karakorum is often considered a stop along the route to somewhere else, this culturally rich city deserves closer attention. Visitors should plan to spend at least two days exploring this ancient area, booking at least one night at one of these hotels, guesthouses or tourist ger (yurt) camps.

The modern and clean Ikh Khorum Hotel and Restaurant stands out as one of the city’s most elegant choices. The hotel features 27 rooms, a sauna, restaurant, bar and lounge. The hotel is within walking distance to Erdene Zuu Monastery, Karakorum Museum, and the Erdenesiin Khuree Calligraphy Center.

While Silver Tree Guest House is still in its opening phases, staying here feels like you’ve been invited into someone’s home. And that’s also because it is. Silver Tree Guest House is a family-run guest house offering yurt stays, rooms with toilets and showers, and a restaurant that can accommodate both meat eaters and vegetable lovers.

It’s also the first building in Mongolia to utilize a biogas heating system and can speak several languages, including English, French, Russian, Polish, and Mongolian.

For the real yurt experience, Anja Camp makes the list as one of the best in Karakorum, offering ecologically healthy and natural meals from their three-season greenhouse as well as having a focus on environmental projects.

The camp and its founders have started initiatives to grow sea buckthorn to stop soil erosion, using the trees to create creams, liqueurs, organic juice, organic oil, and – a Mongolian favorite – sea buckthorn tea. They also have a sister lodge in Elsen Tasarkhai, the Sweet Gobi Geolodge, an hour outside of Karakorum that’s worth checking into if you’re in the area.

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May 15, 2023
Ten-time Everest climber from Northern Ireland dies after scaling Annapurna peak in Nepal | CNN

A mountaineer from Northern Ireland died while descending from the summit of the world’s tenth highest peak and an Indian climber is missing on the same mountain, climbing officials said on Tuesday.

Noel Hanna, who had climbed Mount Everest 10 times, scaled the 8,091 meters (26,545 feet) Annapurna peak in west Nepal on Monday and died overnight in Camp IV after descending from the peak.

Yubaraj Khatiwada, an official of the Department of Tourism, said the circumstances of Hanna’s death were unclear.

He said an Indian climber, who fell into a crevasse on the lower reaches of Annapurna, has been missing since Monday.

Two other Indian mountaineers, who were caught up in bad weather while climbing Annapurna, were being rescued, hiking company officials said.

Annapurna peak in west Nepal, first climbed by Maurice Herzog of France in the early 1950s, is considered dangerous because of the risk of frequent avalanches.

At least 365 people have climbed Annapurna and more than 72 have died on the mountain, according to hiking officials.

Last week, three Nepali sherpa climbers died after being hit by an ice serac on the lower parts of Mount Everest.

Nepal has eight of the world’s 14 highest mountains. Climbing Himalayan peaks and hiking on their foot hills are popular adventure sports as well as a source of employment and income for the country which is tucked between China and India.

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April 18, 2023
Four killed as avalanche sweeps French Alps mountainside | CNN

CNN
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At least four people were killed and several others injured in an avalanche that struck the French Alps over the weekend.

Emergency workers were deployed after the incident at the Armancette glacier near Mont Blanc in southeast France, Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin tweeted on Sunday. Rescue work is ongoing.

Clouds of snow rolled down the mountainside, according to video footage shared by Reuters that was tweeted by a nearby ski station, Contamines-Montjoie.

The avalanche spread across an area of 1 kilometer by 500 meters, at an altitude of 3,500 meters (11,480 feet), according to a spokesperson for the local authorities of Haute-Savoie, Reuters reported.

The people swept away by the avalanche were backcountry skiing and the identities of the victims are being confirmed.

The mayor of the town of Contamines-Montjoie, Francois Barbier, told Agence France-Presse it was “the most deadly avalanche this season.”

French President Emmanuel Macron sent his condolences to the victims and their loved ones.

“At the Armancette glacier in the Alps, an avalanche has caused casualties. We are thinking of them and their families. Our rescue forces have been mobilized to find people still stuck in the snow. Our thoughts are with them too,” Macron tweeted on Sunday.

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April 10, 2023
Venice canals run dry amid fears Italy faces another drought | CNN

Venice
Reuters
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Weeks of dry winter weather have raised concerns that Italy could face another drought after last summer’s emergency, with the Alps having received less than half of their normal snowfall, according to scientists and environmental groups.

The warning comes as Venice, where flooding is normally the primary concern, faces unusually low tides that are making it impossible for gondolas, water taxis and ambulances to navigate some of its famous canals.

The problems in Venice are being blamed on a combination of factors – the lack of rain, a high pressure system, a full moon and sea currents.

Italian rivers and lakes are suffering from severe lack of water, the Legambiente environmental group said Monday, with attention focused on the north of the country.

The Po, Italy’s longest river which runs from the Alps in the northwest to the Adriatic, has 61% less water than is normal at this time of year, it added in a statement.

Last July, Italy declared a state of emergency for areas surrounding the Po, which accounts for roughly a third of the country’s agricultural production and suffered its worst drought for 70 years.

“We are in a water deficit situation that has been building up since the winter of 2020-2021,” climate expert Massimiliano Pasqui, from Italian scientific research institute CNR, was quoted as saying by Corriere della Sera, a daily newspaper.

“We need to recover 500 millimeters in the northwestern regions: We need 50 days of rain,” he added.

Water levels on Lake Garda in northern Italy have fallen to record lows, making it possible to reach the small island of San Biagio on the lake via an exposed pathway.

An anticyclone has been dominating the weather in western Europe for 15 days, bringing mild temperatures more normally seen in late spring.

Latest weather forecasts do however signal the arrival of much-needed precipitation and snow in the Alps in coming days.

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February 21, 2023
Search resumes as deadly Yeti Airlines crash highlights dangers of flying in Nepal | CNN

CNN
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Hundreds of emergency personnel on Monday resumed a search and recovery mission in Nepal following a deadly plane crash that has once again highlighted the dangers of air travel in a country often referred to as one of the riskiest places to fly.

Of the 72 people on board, at least 69 were killed and their bodies recovered after a Yeti Airlines flight crashed near the city of Pokhara Sunday.

The search continues for the three others remain missing, but Kaski District Police Chief Superintendent Ajay KC said Monday that the chance of finding survivors was “extremely low” as workers used a crane to pull bodies from the gorge.

The crash is the worst air disaster in the Himalayan nation in 30 years. It is also the third-worst aviation accident in Nepal’s history, according to data from the Aviation Safety Network.

Experts say conditions such as inclement weather, low visibility and mountainous topography all contribute to Nepal’s reputation as notoriously dangerous for aviation.

The Yeti Airlines flight Sunday had nearly finished its short journey from the capital Kathmandu to Pokhara when it lost contact with a control tower. Some 15 foreign nationals were aboard, according to the country’s civil aviation authority.

The pilot of the downed flight had lost her husband – a co-pilot for the same airline – in a similar crash in 2006, according to a Yeti Airlines spokesperson.

Anju Khatiwada had decided to become a pilot after the death of husband, Dipak Pokhrel, and used the insurance payout money to travel to the US for her training, Sudarshan Bartaula told CNN. She had been with the airline since 2010 and had over 6,300 hours of flight experience.

“She was a brave woman with all the courage and determination. She’s left us too soon,” he said.

Khatiwada was a captain and was flying with an instructor pilot for additional training at the time of the crash, Bartaula added.

Pokhara, a lakeside city, is a popular tourist destination and gateway to the Himalayas. It serves as the starting point for the famous Annapurna Circuit trekking route, with more than 181,000 foreigners visiting the area in 2019.

A government committee is now investigating the cause of the crash, with assistance from French authorities. The Yeti Airlines plane was manufactured by aerospace company ATR, headquartered in France.

The plane’s black box, which records flight data, was recovered on Monday and would be handed to the civil aviation authority, officials said.

Fickle weather patterns aren’t the only problem for flight operations. According to a 2019 safety report from Nepal’s Civil Aviation Authority, the country’s “hostile topography” is also part of the “huge challenge” facing pilots.

Nepal, a country of 29 million people, is home to eight of the world’s 14 highest mountains, including Everest, and its beautiful rugged landscapes make it a popular tourist destination for trekkers.

But this terrain can be difficult to navigate from the air, particularly during bad weather, and things are made worse by the need to use small aircraft to access the more remote and mountainous parts of the country.

Aircraft with 19 seats or fewer are more likely to have accidents due to these challenges, the Civil Aviation Authority report said.

Kathmandu is Nepal’s primary transit hub, from where many of these small flights leave.

The airport in the town of Lukla, in northeastern Nepal, is often referred to as the world’s most dangerous airport. Known as the gateway to Everest, the airport’s runway is laid out on a cliffside between mountains, dropping straight into an abyss at the end. It has seen multiple fatal crashes over the years, including in 2008 and 2019.

A lack of investment in aging aircraft only adds to the flying risks.

In 2015, the International Civil Aviation Organization, a United Nations agency, prioritized helping Nepal through its Aviation Safety Implementation Assistance Partnership. Two years later, the ICAO and Nepal announced a partnership to resolve safety concerns.

While the country has in recent years made improvements in its safety standards, challenges remain.

In May 2022, a Tara Air flight departing from Pokhara crashed into a mountain, killing 22 people.

In early 2018, a US-Bangla Airlines flight from Bangladesh’s capital Dhaka to Kathmandu crashed on landing and caught fire, killing 51 of the 71 people on board.

And in 2016, a Tara Air flight crashed while flying the same route as the aircraft that was lost Sunday. That incident involved a recently acquired Twin Otter aircraft flying in clear conditions.

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January 16, 2023
As Mauna Loa’s lava inches toward a key Hawaii highway, some residents recall bygone devastation | CNN

Mauna Loa, Hawaii
CNN
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From a deep fracture in Mauna Loa’s dark terrain, the volcano’s magnificent eruption sends geyser-like fountains of lava spraying into the sky.

The fissure – cracked open on the northeastern slope of the world’s largest active volcano – feeds a searing flow of molten rock that cuts through the contours of Hawaii’s Big Island. Plumes of volcanic gas, including sulfur dioxide, rise into the air, and delicate strands of volcanic glass, called Pele’s hair, float downwind.

In the week since Mauna Loa erupted, the stream of lava has coursed northeast, away from the volcano’s summit. Once a quick-moving stream, the flow has slowed significantly as it reaches more softly sloping inclines.

Though no communities are at risk, the lava flow is inching closer to the Daniel K. Inouye Highway, a major artery that remains open, connecting two sides of this island, according to the US Geological Survey. The lava is flowing at an average rate of 25 feet per hour, the agency said Monday.

“Though the advance rate has slowed over the past several days, the lava flow remains active with a continuous supply from the fissure 3 vent,” the release said.

Advance rates of the lava may be “highly variable” in the coming days and weeks with individual lobes advancing quickly and then stalling, the release said.

“If the eruption continues, it might cover the highway. But at this stage, it’s still about 2.3 miles away from the highway. But it is advancing every day,” said Natalia Deligne, a volcanologist with the USGS at the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory. “We don’t know how long this eruption is going to last, and that will dictate whether or not the highway becomes more threatened.”

If it closes, residents’ commutes could grow by hours as they seek alternate routes, creating “a tremendous inconvenience,” Hawaii Gov. David Ige told CNN on Saturday.

Hawaii’s Defense Department activated 20 members of the state’s National Guard Monday as a result of the lava flow from Mauna Loa, a Hawaii Emergency Management Agency statement said. The National Guard members will “assist Hawai’i County with traffic control and other roles in the Mauna Loa eruption,” according to the statement.

Mauna Loa’s eruption has attracted waves of awestruck visitors, some making the pilgrimage in the middle of the night to avoid the crowds, bundled in jackets and hats to protect against the chilly night air.

Also erupting now is nearby Kilauea, whose monthslong eruption in 2018 was one of the most destructive in recent Hawaii history, the USGS says.

Kilauea began erupting again in 2021 and hasn’t stopped. And though it poses no risk now to surrounding communities, Mauna Loa’s rare simultaneous eruption has rekindled memories of the pain and destruction Kilauea wrought four years ago, when it wiped out hundreds of homes and dozens of miles of road.

Just 21 miles east of Mauna Loa, Kilauea’s ongoing eruption is now confined to a lake of lava rippling at its summit. But the history of this volcano is painful for Hawaii’s Big Island.

Its 2018 eruption spewed lava into the large Leilani Estates neighborhood, swallowing more than 700 homes and surrounding others with thick layers of volcanic rock, creating unreachable patches of green foliage in a sea of blackened destruction.

Dorothy Thrall can still walk to the spot where her community once stood, now blanketed with hardened lava. From the deck of her friend’s home, she can see the edge where the lava stopped and blackened into volcanic rock, still steaming years afterward.

Mauna Loa’s eruption has reopened some of the wounds she and her friends still have from 2018.

“I thought I was doing pretty good,” Thrall said. “My neighbor called me Day 2 (of Mauna Loa’s eruption), and she was in tears. She says, ‘I have PTSD, and I didn’t even know it.’ And I started crying, too, and I said, ‘I guess I do, too.’”

Thrall has no desire to see Mauna Loa’s eruption, saying she has seen enough lava in her time. Still, though, she still appreciates the majestic beauty and importance of volcanic events.

“Lava is beautiful. It’s Pele’s creation,” she said, referencing the ancient Hawaiian volcano deity. “That’s how the island was formed. That’s how the island was built.”

For many Native Hawaiians, the eruption of volcanoes, including Kilauea and Mauna Loa, holds incredible spiritual significance. Some have honored this week’s occasion by leaving offerings and participating in traditional chants near Mauna Loa.

As onlookers and tourists flock, officials urge caution and advise people not to venture into closed areas that could pose risk of lethal volcanic fumes, sudden collapses and hidden earth cracks, the National Park Service said.

A spot for safe viewing is a one-way route is accessible through the Daniel K. Inouye Highway, the Hawaii County Civil Defense Agency said, noting vehicles parked on the roadway could get ticketed or towed.

The eruption has also created a risk of low air quality in some places due to volcanic ash and vog, or air pollution caused by volcanic gases. Sensitive groups, including children, the elderly and those with respiratory conditions, are advised to reduce outdoor activities that cause heavy breathing and reduce exposure by staying indoors and closing windows and doors, according to the Hawaii Department of Health.

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December 5, 2022
Avalanche kills at least 4 mountaineers in Indian Himalayas | CNN

New Delhi
CNN
—

At least four people were killed and 28 people remain missing after an avalanche hit a group of mountaineers in the Indian Himalayas on Tuesday, according to an Indian mountaineering organization.

In a statement Tuesday, the Nehru Institute of Mountaineering said a team of 34 trainees and seven instructors were training on Mount Draupadi ka Danda II in the northern state of Uttarakhand when they were caught in an avalanche at around 8:45 a.m. local time.

The group was returning from the 5,670-meter (18,898 feet) peak, the statement said.

A search and rescue operation is ongoing with assistance from the Indian Air Force and state and national disaster response forces, the statement added.

“Deeply anguished by the loss of precious lives due to [a] landslide which has struck the mountaineering expedition carried out by the Nehru Mountaineering Institute in Uttarkashi,” India’s Defense Minister Rajnath Singh posted on Twitter.

Last year, more than 200 people died after part of a glacier collapsed in Uttarakhand, carrying a deadly mixture of ice, rock and water that tore through a mountain gorge and crashed through a dam.

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October 5, 2022