Fond du lac mountaineer Andy Land says its great to be home. Land returned to Fond du lac last weekend after surviving the deadly earthquake and avalanche two weeks ago on Mt. Everest. Land says he really thought he was going to die when the earthquake struck. His climbing team were straddling the mountain 20,000 feet up at Camp One, just above the treacherous Khumbu Icefall. The team was rescued by helicopter and transported back to base camp for the trek back down the mountain and through the tiny villages ravaged by the quake. “On the way down we made the decision to stop at all of these villages and help those people,” Land told AM 1170 WFDL’s Between the Lines program. “My heart breaks for people there. These people, the have almost nothing, and yet they are the most optimistic, courteous, generous, resilient people I’ve ever met.” Land says if that first earthquake hadn’t happened he would have just now been climbing toward the summit of the world’s tallest peak . He says he was shocked to hear about another massive quake on Everest this week. “I was just so shocked, sad. I was just there, I had just been in this village about ten days ago,” Land said. Land has climbed several big mountains over the years including the tallest mountain in North America, Mt. Mckinley, twice. But he says nothing compares to Everest. Land was attempting the climb to raise money and awareness for Hospice care.
