The backup team departed at five in the morning when the weather was more stable. Although it was not suitable to leave Lucrezia alone in Camp II, they could not afford one more man to stay behind. They made sure that the communication systems were working. After they left, they were only different machines and their beeping sounds accompanying Lucrezia. How lonely it was! She shivered at the thought. “No, I mustn’t act like this. I have to be strong and independent now!” she ordered herself. Three hours later, a storm hit the camp again. Lucrezia was busy, she had to make sure the tent was safe and at the same time, she had to keep an eye on the machines. The wind outside has nearly torn the tent, it was lifted up twice. Snow flew into the tent continuously. The wind so hard that Lucrezia hardly sat still, she was, too, blown up by the wind. She kept demanding herself to be calm and keep on working. Minutes passed like hours and hours passed like days. She struggled hard and waited for the others to return. After a long time, the backup team finally came back in the midst of the storm. Lucrezia was exhausted and fell asleep after they came back.
When she woke up, it was about four hours after the backup team returned. Everyone was busy. They were checking information, making calls and repairing the tent. She noticed one team member was lying against the luggage and looked at her. She soon found out that he suffered from a broken leg. From him, she learned that they had tried to contact the rescue team nearby, but the transmission of the message has been interfered by the storm. Also, the first mission of finding the climbing team failed.
Lucrezia was restless, she wanted to work and found her father herself. They had successfully sent out the message, but they were not sure whether the rescue team were coming. At dinnertime, Lucrezia raised a question, “Shall we organize another trip to search for the climbing team?” she asked calmly, as if she was doing a case study. All the other members stopped eating and they were surprised. Everyone wanted to raise this question but no one wanted to be the first one. “What’re your opinions?” the leader asked the others. They kept silent for nearly an hour. At last, the leader said, “Tomorrow, we will go up again. Two of you stay behind and two of you go with me.” Again, everyone obeyed silently.
Lucrezia was chosen to go with the leader. They started the journey at four when the storm became weaker. The storm continued as they went for Camp III. Camp III was empty. The food and drinks were still there. They spent a night there. Next morning, the sky was dim and the weather was getting worse. However, the team decided to climb to Camp IV. They sky grew darker as they walked. The snow on the ground was so soft, “The storm here has been continuing for days.” Lucrezia thought. The winds howled loudly and fiercely, the team could hardly move an inch. After struggling for more than five hours, the leader decided to retreat. But the other team members refused. They struggled for five more hours, their position was about 300m away from Camp IV. The leader gave an order to retreat. Lucrezia pleaded, “Please keep going.” She could not say other words anymore. “No,” the leader shouted sharply, “It is impossible for us to fight against this kind of storm. We’ll all get killed. Retreat, I ordered!” Lucrezia nodded sadly, reason came back to her mind: she had to be calm and obedient. She tried to suppress her feeling but when they turned to start the return journey, she cried, “Papa, papa, where are you?” The cry was so painful. Lucrezia made all her effort to cry out, but her voice was lost in the thundering sound of the winds, which rent the air. Three days later, they were back to Camp II again.
They were horrified to see Camp II was destroyed in storms. The tent was torn apart and half of the site was covered with snow. They dug the snow and pulled the two team members out. They also recovered some of their equipments. Another tent was set up, the two team members were moved in. None of them were in danger. Some of the communication systems were broken down. Finally, they managed to send an ‘SOS’ message to the rescue team nearby. They had been trapped in the storm for seven days before the rescue team finally contacted them. The rescue team would come in a few days’ time. The backup team told the rescue team that there were ten people trapped at or above 5000m from sea level, five people at about 2000m in Camp II, and at least two people were injured. After fighting for seven days against the storms, the backup team members were weary. They spirit was low. Twenty days after the avalanche, did the climbing team survive the storms? Have they ever reached the summit? Lucrezia still believed that her father might survive in the storms. She hoped and waited. The storm has not stopped yet, but it was getting weaker. How was the condition of the higher altitude? No one knew because the equipment of checking weather was broken down in the previous storm.
Six days after the conversation with the rescue team, it reached Camp II. The two injured members were taken away to the hospital. The rest were transported to the base camp where they could help in the search of the remaining team. At the base camp, the team received a bad news. The weather was unstable and the rescue team could not reach 5000m above sea level. Lucrezia wanted to phone her mother, but she did not know what to say. At last, four days after the rescue team arrived, the search for the climbing team began. Ten days had passed, no news received from the rescuers yet. Finally, on the eleventh day, it was reported that four people were found near 7000m from sea level. They were quickly transported to the base camp and then to the hospital. Lucrezia was very excited and ran to the helicopter. She was horrified to find two of the climbing team members were badly injured and the other two were dead. She wanted to see them but was told that none of them was her father. Three days passed and other five mountaineers were found. Lucrezia grew more excited and waited for the helicopters to arrive. She saw bodies in bags were put into another helicopter and ready to be transported away. Lucrezia just hoped the fifth one could step out of the helicopter on his own. No, the fifth one was also in a white bag.
The rescue team leader told Lucrezia to go to the hospital and identify the bodies. The white bags were opened one by one. All Lucrezia saw were seven blackened faces. Some of them had their eyes opened; some of them had the expression of great fear; some of the faces were twisted in pain. The most important thing was none of them was her father. Lucrezia asked the rescue team leader near her, “Where is my father?” The eyes of the leader were full of pity, he gently said, “Sorry, Miss Noin. We’re afraid that Mr. Francesco Noin has been found yet. Also, the search for him has to be ended.”
