“That day,” says Dave Hahn (BA ’84), “planet Earth proved who was boss—shaking Chomolungma as if she were built from Jell-O.” Chomolungma, the Tibetan name for Mount Everest, means Mother Goddess of the Earth. On “that day”—April 25, 2015—a massive earthquake struck Nepal.

Heavy snow and whiteouts preceded the first quake, which registered a magnitude 7.8. Several aftershocks occurred over the next few days. While the team Hahn was leading survived unscathed, many others—particularly at Base Camp, in a valley surrounded by Himalayan peaks—were not so lucky.

Excerpted from At Buffalo. Read the complete story, including slide shows and Hahn’s daily blog entries about the quake.