The 2022 DKD2 Disaster

Amar Chandra relates that "29 People Died in One of the Worst Mountaineering Accidents in History. What Happened?" On October 4, 2022, a group of 46 climbers (45 associated with the Nehru Institute of Mountaineering) were climbing Draupadi Ka Danda II ("DKD2"), an 18,600-foot peak in the Gangotri range of the Garhwal Himalayas, near the Chinese border. 

     ... A few instructors and strong students had nearly reached [the summit] already and were fixing ropes that would make the final 500 feet easier for the others still en route. All 46 climbers were together on the slope, and almost everyone was attached to the fixed line with a carabiner, waiting to move up. They wore standard-issue orange helmets, and jackets in reds and blues with a NIM patch on the chest.

    As they climbed, a small amount of snow slid down from above. “Hey, it was a mini avalanche,” Lalwani said. Though it wasn’t enough to knock anyone off their feet, the slide alarmed Lalwani. He calmed himself with the knowledge that NIM had been taking climbers to DKD2 since 1981; he’d never heard of an accident.

    Just after 8:30 A.M., Sharma reached the summit snowfield at the end of the fixed line, unclipped himself, and walked toward one of his instructors who was already on the top. Behind him, a crack shot silently across the slope and released a large slab avalanche. Everything below the fracture line began to move as the entire slope broke into chunks of snow and ice that flowed like water. A few hundred feet below, Thakkar watched in horror. There was no time to react. The slide toppled climbers, gaining momentum as it churned downhill. The man uphill from Lalwani fell on top of him. Lalwani plunged his ice ax into the snow, hoping to arrest their movement, but they were swept down the mountain. As they slid, he tried to keep his head above the mass of snow, but he felt like he was drowning.

    Sharma, nearing the summit, glanced over his shoulder. The fixed rope was gone. His friends had all vanished. And yet he’d heard nothing: no screams, no commotion. “Everything happened in the blink of an eye,” he says. “And everything happened in silence.”

* * *

    Those who survived guessed that the avalanche carried them for between 15 and 30 seconds. Some climbers came to a stop on the slope, but 34 of them were funneled over the lip of a deep, narrow crevasse located at approximately 18,000 feet and sent into a free fall. When they hit the bottom, approximately 80 feet below, the snow that piled up around them hardened into concrete, entombing them alive.

All 29 that died were among those carried into the crevasse. Two of the bodies were never recovered. For those that fell into the crevasse, luck determined who survived rather than skill. Luck that their faces were at or above the surface of the snow.

    While the article discusses what might have gone wrong, it also speaks plainly of the Indian authorities not providing transparency into its investigation and no one wanting to speak to the author for fear of reprisal, unlike climbing accidents in Europe or North American which encourage releasing details and introspection so others can learn.