Four local climbers are back in San Diego after a harrowing journey in Nepal during the country’s devastating earthquake.
Kathleen “Kat” Heldman, her husband Kevin Krough and her friends Oscar Olea and Brigida Martinez thought they were setting off on the trip of a lifetime: a hiking adventure through Asia to celebrate Martinez's 40th birthday. Little did they know, they’d be more than 12,400 feet above sea level in the small Nepalese area of Kyanjing Gompa when the quake would hit.
“We were in the tea room where we were going to stay. We were waiting for our lunch when the earthquake stuck,” recalled Olea, who spoke to NBC 7 upon his return home to El Cajon.
“First we didn't know what was happening when we heard the noise. Then we started feeling the movement and realized it was an earthquake,” he added.
Olea said everyone started running out of the building as rocks and bricks came crashing down, except their friend Martinez who was in the bathroom on the second floor.
Heldman’s husband captured video of his wife and guard calling for Brigida from outside the crumbling structure.
“Kat, in an act of incredible heroism, went inside to get her,” recalled Olea. “ A few seconds later they both came out of the building.”
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When the shaking finally stopped, the group thought they were out of danger. The video shows them embracing each other and then suddenly looking around concerned.
“We thought we heard like a hurricane that was coming up the mountain.Then we saw a huge cloud coming down at an incredible speed,” said Olea.
“I realized it was an avalanche,” he said. “We started running for our lives…again.”
Everyone ran to safety, but when Oscar tried to move he says he felt a sharp pain in his thigh. He tried moving it, but it just would not respond.
“The power of the avalanche was pushing me down, so I couldn't do anything but lay down on the ground,” he recalled.
Snow and debris flew dangerously past his head as more snow piled around his legs and all the way up to his waist.
“My legs were getting buried in the snow. The avalanche lasted for a minute but it felt like an hour,” he recounted.
Olea survived the avalanche. His friends and village locals rushed to him and dug him out of the snow. It took four days for a U.S. Embassy-sent helicopter to fly them off the mountain to Kathmandu and then to Los Angeles.
On Tuesday, the San Diegans planned to hold a news briefing in Bankers Hill to talk about their story of survival. They also want to travel to Nepal again next year to thank those who helped them survive and hold a memorial for those who did not, Olea said.
