Hiker captures close call as avalanche roars toward Everest camp

A wall of snow thundered toward Everest’s South Base Camp while climbers inside a tent scrambled to seal the entrance, a close call that turned a routine day at altitude into a split-second survival drill.

The footage, which circulated widely across major outlets and social platforms, showed the avalanche pushing in from the Lho La pass side of Mount Everest and sweeping toward tents at South Base Camp. In one widely shared version, the group is seen zipping up the tent as visibility drops and the snow rushes in. The Weather Channel described the blast as an avalanche wall roaring toward South Base Camp at more than 17,000 feet.

A 7NEWS report identified the climber filming the moment as Australian mountaineer Oliver Foran, who was about 6.5 kilometres above sea level when the snow came down. ABC News and KXLY 920 News Now also reposted the clip on May 17, helping push the video into broad circulation just as Everest’s spring climbing season was already under pressure from repeated hazards.

No injuries were reported in the May avalanche, and some accounts said there was no major damage at camp. But the scene underscored how quickly conditions can turn on Everest, where the South Base Camp area sits beneath steep, unstable slopes and where sudden weather shifts can send snow and debris toward fixed camps with little warning.

The episode was not isolated. Earlier in May 2026, a smaller avalanche off Everest’s West Shoulder hit the Khumbu Icefall and injured two climbers, adding to a spring season that has already seen multiple accidents and deaths in the region. Together, the incidents show the same risk calculation playing out again and again on the mountain: climbers, guides and support staff weighing summit ambitions against a landscape where icefall, avalanches and violent weather can collapse the distance between safety and catastrophe in seconds.

For Foran and the others at camp, the warning came fast and without much room to move. The tent held, the group stayed sheltered, and the snow passed. On Everest, that can count as a narrow escape, not a normal day.