ISC West’s Mt. Everest climber witnesses deadly earthquake and avalanche

A demonstration of the home automation capabilities of Z-Wave wireless transmission – controlling a coffee maker from the Mt. Everest base camp – came off without a hitch at ISC West. A few days later, however, the veteran climber involved in the stunt got a first-hand look at the deadly 7.8 earthquake in Katmandu and the resulting avalanche.

The adventurer, Mariusz Malkowski, began his love of climbing in his native Poland while in early high school. “I would go on an 8-hour train ride alone,” he says, “sometimes not telling my parents that I was climbing a mountain.” 

That independent spirit took courage and persistence, qualities...