“I’m absolutely convinced that the tragedy was the result of wind and snow deposition, and the fact that they pitched camp in the lee of a ridge,” Wilkinson add

“I’m absolutely convinced that the tragedy was the result of wind and snow deposition, and the fact that they pitched camp in the lee of a ridge,” Wilkinson adds. “I’ve made this mistake in my mountaineering career more than once.” During an expedition to Antarctica in 2012, tents belonging to Wilkinson’s team were pitched inside a circle of wind-deflecting snow walls they made. Returning to camp after three days, his team found that two tents tucked in the wind-shielded wall were completely buried." I and two friends made exactly that mistake too.. the only difference is that we didn't leave the tent, we just observed how, instead of being shielded from the wind, we got more and more buried! After two days we dug out and moved away. We were young then. A mistake we never repeated. A small slightly sloping snow wall no higher than two or three inches works, a higher wall looks like it would work better.. big mistake.