All 31 members of the Wanaka-based Adventure Consultants climbing team left stranded on Mt Everest following Saturday's devastating earthquake in Nepal have been safely evacuated to Nepal Base Camp.
Adventure Consultants programme co-ordinator and guide Mark Morrison said in Wanaka yesterday the group members - guides, sherpa staff and clients - were flown by helicopter to Nepal Base Camp from Mt Everest's camp one and camp two.
They had been split between the two higher camps as part of an acclimatisation round when the quake struck.
Among them were company chief executive Guy Cotter, of Wanaka, Jono Gillan, of Queenstown, and three New Zealand clients.
The group, all uninjured, would remain at the camp with three other Adventure Consultants staff, including Vicky Hill and Anthea Fisher, of Wanaka, for ''at least'' a couple of days until they could be safely transported down the Khumbu Valley.
''We're just trying to work out ... the best way to get the members of the climbing team out of the mountains and back home and that's a bit of a process for us to follow and we're just trying to gather as much information as we can at the moment to be able to do that,'' Mr Morrison said.
''When you look at the status of Kathmandu alone, let alone the Khumbu Valley as well, we've got a lot to work through before we can get them out.''
Five of Adventure Consultants' Nepalese employees were killed when the earthquake triggered an avalanche which swept through Nepal Base Camp, about 5500m above sea level.
Eight other Nepalese casualties working for the company were evacuated to hospitals down the valley. Seven were last night stable and one remained in a serious condition.
Although the Adventure Consultants' camp and many others had been ''completely destroyed'', the climbing party was ''safer there than they were on the mountain'', Mr Morrison said.
''They've lost everything from their jackets to their shoes, so all they've got is what they've got on and what they had up at the high camp, which is their climbing gear, so any of their other gear has been lost in the avalanche.
''They're all shaken from a very frightening experience ... and keen to get home.''
Between 20 and 30 expeditions were scheduled for Everest this year and about half of those had been seriously affected by the avalanche, Mr Morrison said.
The others, at the lower part of Nepal Base Camp, were unaffected and helping other parties by sharing the resources they had.
