Nepal

Mt. Everest Avalanche Survivor Returns Home

After a week-long journey from Mount Everest, an Allen,Texas, woman is home.

Danielle Banks, 22, was greeted by family and friends at DFW Airport on Saturday afternoon.

She was with a group climbing to the base camp of the mountain last weekend, when an earthquake triggered an avalanche.

Banks says she was “lucky” to be further down the peak than most climbers, but in seconds, saw the lodge where she was staying covered in snow.

“Once everyone realized what was happening, we just ran for open area and open cover,” she said.

“Not even seconds later, the avalanche fell from the mountains.”

Banks was able to tell her family she was safe by text message, but her mother Sharon says communication was spotty. She spent days wondering if her daughter was alive, eventually arranging for an airlift to take Danielle off the mountain.

After Banks reached the US Embassy, her mother insisted she return home.

“I moved Mount Everest and I got her off that mountain!” said Sharon Banks.

Danielle Banks had been in Nepal for two months doing humanitarian work to prevent human trafficking. She says she would like to return to help rebuild the country, but right now, staying in Nepal would mean taking meals and an available bed away from someone with nowhere else to go.

“I think that’s a lesson I’ll carry close to my heart forever, how privileged we are,” she said.

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