Jon Reiter, a Kenwood contractor, and his Australian climbing partner, Marcus Bridle, were climbing above 20,000 feet on Mt. Everest early Friday when an avalanche swept down the climbing route, killing at least 12 Nepalese guides in the deadliest disaster on the world's highest mountain.
Reiter's Sherpa guide pushed him behind some ice blocks and out of harm's way, he wrote afterwards from base camp at 19,000 feet, where he was recovering from the tragedy that left him rattled but uninjured.
The guides 'are truly amazing,' Reiter, 49, wrote on his blog Friday. 'We are shaken but OK. Unfortunately there are some still up there who were not so lucky today. As I write this I feel emotional and don't know what to say. One thought is that we were so lucky. But the overwhelming feelings are for the poor families of the people that didn't make it.' Mount Everest Avalanche
A photo of fellow climbers taken by Kenwood resident Jon Reiter at the Khumbu Icefall on Mt. Everest. The photo was take a few days before Friday's deadly avalanche on the icefall. (Courtesy photo)
Jim Geiger, left, and Kenwood resident Jon Reiter, right, in a photo taken during their climbing expedition at Mt. Everest. (Courtesy photo)
In this May 18, 2013 file photo released by mountain guide Adrian Ballinger of Alpenglow Expeditions, climbers make their way to the summit of Mount Everest, in the Khumbu region of the Nepal Himalayas. An avalanche swept down a climbing route on Mount Everest early Friday, April 18, killing at least 12 Nepalese guides and leaving three missing in the deadliest disaster on the world's highest peak. (AP Photo/Alpenglow Expeditions, Adrian Ballinger, File)
Kenwood climber Jon Reiter, who survived Friday's deadly avalanche on Mount Everest, shown in 2011 at a home he built in the hills above Kenwood. (PD FILE, 2011 )
Kenwood climber Jon Reiter shown in 2004. (PD FILE, 2004)
In this Sunday, May 18, 2003 file photo, mountaineers pass through the treacherous Khumbu Icefall on their way to Mount Everest near Everest Base camp, Nepal. An avalanche swept down a climbing route on Mount Everest early Friday, killing at least 12 Nepalese guides and leaving three missing in the deadliest disaster on the world's highest peak. (AP Photo/Gurinder Osan, file)
In this Saturday May 17, 2003 file photo, a view of the Kumbhu icefall, the first hurdle in the ascent to Everest from base camp, is seen from Everest Base camp, where 12 Nepalese guides were killed, Nepal. (AP Photo/Gurinder Osan, file)
Ambulances are seen waiting outside the Domestic Airport, waiting for injured people of avalanche to arrive, in Katmandu, Nepal, Friday, April 18, 2014. (AP Photo/Niranjan Shrestha)
Dawa Yangzum, right, a relative of Nepalese Sherpa Dawa Tashi, who was injured during an avalanche, waits at a hospital in Katmandu, Nepal, Friday, April 18, 2014. (AP Photo/Niranjan Shrestha)
A Nepalese Sherpa Dawa Tashi, who was injured during an avalanche, gets treatment at a hospital in Katmandu, Nepal, Friday, April 18, 2014. (AP Photo/Niranjan Shrestha)
Hospital staff get ready to receive the injured from an avalanche on the helipad of Grandy hospital, in Katmandu, Nepal, Friday, April 18, 2014. (AP Photo/Niranjan Shrestha)
In this May 18, 2013 file photo released by mountain guide Adrian Ballinger of Alpenglow Expeditions, a climber pauses on the way to the summit of Mount Everest, in the Khumbu region of the Nepal Himalayas. An avalanche swept down a climbing route on Mount Everest early Friday, April 18, 2014, killing at least 12 Nepalese guides and leaving three missing in the deadliest disaster on the world's highest peak. (AP Photo/Alpenglow Expeditions, Adrian Ballinger, File)
In this Oct. 27, 2011 file photo, the last light of the day sets on Mount Everest as it rises behind Mount Nuptse as seen from Tengboche, in the Himalaya's Khumbu region, Nepal. (AP Photo/Kevin Frayer, File)
The Healdsburg High School graduate, who is on his second attempt of the 29,035-foot Everest, told his wife Susan Reiter that he is going to reassess the climb before deciding whether to continue.
'He said it was horrible watching the helicopters getting the dead bodies down,' she said. 'Physically he's doing great. Emotionally he's in a state of shock.'
Mt. Everest in Nepal is the last challenge in Reiter's goal of climbing the highest peak on each continent - the so-called Seven Summits.
He was forced to turn back on Everest last year at about the same spot when an ice bridge collapsed and cut off his team's climbing route.
Reiter, a father of two boys who builds custom homes in the Sonoma Valley, appeared in his online post, at jononeverest.blogspot.com, to be contemplating his mountaineering goals in the wake of the disaster that also injured several climbers.
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