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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
THURSDAY, APRIL 24, 2014
PAGE 5B
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INTERNATIONAL
ASSOCIATED PRESS
A Buddhist monk lights the funeral pyre of Nepalese climber Ang Kaji Sherpa, who was killed in an avalanche on Mount Everest in Katmandu, Nepal, on Monday. Buddhist monks cremated the remains of Sherpa guides who were buried in the deadliest avalanche ever recorded on Mount Everest.
Sherpas leave Everest expeditions nix climbs
ASSOCIATED PRESS
KATMANDU, Nepal Sherpa guides were leaving Mount Everest's base camp on Wednesday as part of a walkout following the mountain's deadliest disaster, as some expedition companies announced that they were canceling their climbs this season.
American climber Ed Marzec said he saw several Sherpas leaving the base camp and many others packing up their tents. Some were loading their equipment onto a helicopter that had landed at the camp.
"There are a lot of Sherpas leaving this morning, and in the next two days there will be a huge number that will follow," Marzec, 67, from San Diego, said by phone from the base camp. He said he had already decided to abandon his climb.
Tusli Gurung, a guide who was at the base camp on Wednesday, estimated that nearly half the Sherpas had already left.
The walkout is certain to disrupt a climbing season that was already marked by grief following Friday's disaster. Sherpa guides were hauling climbing gear between camps when a chunk of ice tore loose and triggered an avalanche. Thirteen bodies were recovered and three Sherpas still missing are presumed dead.
"It is just impossible for many of us to continue climbing while there are three of our friends buried in the snow," said Dorje Sherpa, an experienced Everest guide from the tiny Himalayan
community that has become famous for its high-altitude skills and endurance.
"I can't imagine stepping over them," he said of the three Sherpa guides who remain buried in ice and snow.
Seattle-based Alpine Ascents International announced it was calling off its expedition. "We have all agreed the best thing is to not continue this season's climb, so that all can mourn the loss of family, friends and comrades in this unprecedented tragedy," the company said on its website.
New Zealand-based Adventure Consultants also said it was canceling its expedition this season.
Marzec said some smaller companies were hoping to go ahead with their climbs.
The avalanche was triggered when a massive piece of glacier sheared away from the mountain along a section of constantly shifting ice and crevasses known as the Khumbu Icefall — a treacherous area where overhanging immensities of ice as large as 10-story buildings hang over the main route up the mountain.
Special teams of Sherpas, known as Icefall Doctors, fix ropes through what they hope to be the safest paths, and use aluminum ladders to bridge crevasses. But the Khumbu shifts so much that they need to go out every morning - as they were doing when disaster struck Friday - to repair sections that have broken overnight and move the climbing route if needed.
some of the Sherpas' demands in the threatened walkout, such as setting up a relief fund for Sherpas who are killed or injured in climbing accidents, but the funding falls far short of the Sherpas' demands.
Nepal's government appeared to agree Tuesday to
After the avalanche, the government quickly said it would pay the families of each Sherpa who died 40,000 rupees, or about $415. The Sherpas said they deserved far more — including more insurance money, more financial aid for the victims' families and new regulations that would ensure climbers' rights.
On Tuesday,the government's offer was modified to include a relief fund to help Sherpas injured in mountaineering accidents and the families of those killed, and to pay for rescue during accidents on the mountain. The government said it would stock the fund annually with 5 percent of its earnings from Everest climbing fees - well below the 30 percent the Sherpas are demanding. Nepal earns some $3.5 million annually in Everest climbing fees.
the insurance payout for those killed on the mountain will also be doubled to $15,620 (2 million rupees), the Ministry of Tourism said — far short of the Sherpas' demand for $20,800.
Most attempts to reach the summit are made in midMay, when weather is most favorable. If the Sherpas boycott the season, many climbers will have to forfeit most or all of the money they have spent to go up Everest — at a cost of $75,000 or more.
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The Cubs and Diamondbacks went retro, wearing throwback 1914 jerseys, and the famed scoreboard listed Kansas City and Chi-Feds in their place.
CHICAGO — For Wrigley Field, it really was the party of a century.
Exactly 100 years after the Chicago Federals pounded the Kansas City Packers in the first game at Wrigley, the famed ballpark got quite the birthday bash on Wednesday afternoon. Hall of Famers such as Ernie Banks, Billy Williams, Fergie Jenkins and Andre Dawson were on hand, and so were Bears greats Dick Butkus and Gale Sayers.
Yes, it was quite an afternoon, a day of celebration. A day of reflection, too. The memories, the stories, flowed like runs in a big rally.
"It just gives me goose bumps because I had a chance to play here," Williams said. "I often said this was my playground during the summer for so many years. So I have enjoyed it and I still enjoy it."
ASSOCIATED PRESS
For Wrigley Field, it's the birthday party of a century
The celebration came as Cubs ownership and the neighboring rooftop owners remain in a standstill over proposed renovations. The $500 million project, which includes a giant lumbotron, is on hold because the Ricketts family wants assurances that it won't be sued over
MLB
The ballpark has hosted everything from boxing to soccer to the circus to the rodeo to concerts to a Chicago Blackhawks game. There was even this: On back-to-back weekends in January 1944, ski jumpers leapt from scaffolding covered in snow and ice and landed behind second base.
In many ways, Wrigley Field has seen everything but a Cubs championship. Of course, they haven't won one since 1908 — eight years before they started playing at what was then known as Weeghman Park.
"This ownership didn't," Selig said.
Of course, the Bears celebrated a few at Wrigley. They won NFL championship games there in 1933, 1941, 1943 and 1963 before they moved to Soldier Field in 1971.
He said the treatment the current owners—the Ricketts family — has received is "beyond unfair" and that he will do everything he "possibly can" to help them. He also said the Ricketttess have not approached him about moving, that they're committed to renovating Wrigley and staying there.
On his way in from Glen Ellyn, Illinois. Williams thought about all the events besides baseball games that have taken place at Wrigley Field over the years.
obstructed views.
BILLY WILLIAMS Hall of Famer
"You can't ask a team to be competitive and you can't ask people to do things and then tie their hands and their legs." Commissioner Bud Selig said. "It's just wrong. Somebody has to say it so I'm happy to say it."
It's also worth mentioning that the rooftop owners, who charge fans to sit in bleachers atop their buildings, have a contract under which they share 17 percent of their revenues with the Cubs. The Tribune Co., the previous
"It just gives me goose bumps because I had a chance to play here."
owner, signed it
Ushers wore party hats. Fans received birthday cupcakes and throwback jerseys. There was a replica Wrigley Field cake from Carlo's Bakery, setting of the hit TLC show "Cake Boss", near the statue of Banks outside the ballpark. A portion was to be served to guests at the charity event at Chicago's Field Museum.
"They know the right thing to do for this franchise and this sport is to preserve this, just like the Red Sox
preserved Fenway," said Selig, who made his first trip to the ballpark in May 1944.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Baseball fans wait to enter Wrigley Field on the 100th anniversary of the first baseball game at the ballpark before a game between the Arizona Diamondbacks and Chicago Cubs on Wednesday in Chicago.
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