Glen Plake survives Manaslu avalanche; 11 others confirmed dead, several missing

Freeskiing legend Glen Plake is among the lucky ones this weekend, as a massive avalanche on Nepal’s Mount Manaslu, the eighth tallest mountain in the world, killed at least 11 of his fellow mountaineers.

The avalanche hit Camp III situated at an altitude of nearly 24,000 feet, as the climbers were heading toward the peak. There were at least 50 people from different expeditions on the mountain when the incident occurred.

Extreme skiers Remy Lecluse and Greg Costa were reportedly among the dozen still missing Sunday.

Plake filed the following graphic account with EpicTV:

Greg and I were in a tent together, Rémy was in another. It was 4:45 a.m. and I was in my sleeping bag with my headlamp on reading my devotional when we heard a roar. Greg looked at me and said, “That was a big gust of wind,” then a second later, “No, that was an avalanche.”

Then it hit us.

I was swept 300 meters over a serac and down the mountain and came to a stop still in my sleeping bag, still inside the tent. We all went to sleep with avalanche transceivers on so I punched my way out of the tent and started searching.

Searched for 10 minutes when I realized I was barefoot.

Greg was using my down suit for a pillow and I found my suit, I found everything that was in my tent – camera, sleeping bag, ski boots, it was like someone had thrown my gear in the back of a pickup – but there was no sign of Greg. Rémy and his tent are nowhere to be found.

Photo: EpicTV
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