A Nepali mountain guide has been found alive after disappearing for six days on Mount Everest, in what climbers and mountaineering experts are calling a remarkable survival story.
Dawa Sherpa, also known as Hillary Dawa Sherpa after the famous climber Edmund Hillary, went missing on May 29 after becoming separated from a Polish client he was guiding. He was last spotted in the "death zone" region near Yellow Band above camp 3, at an altitude of 7,200 meters where oxygen levels are insufficient to sustain human life for extended periods.
A helicopter rescue team initially failed to locate him, but on Thursday morning a team from the Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee discovered Sherpa crawling down the snowy slopes near the Khumbu icefall, just above base camp at 5,300 meters. He had frostbite on his hands but was in relatively good health. The rescue team immediately provided him with food and water before flying him by helicopter to a hospital in Kathmandu.
The timing of his rescue proved especially poignant. Sherpa's family had already begun funeral rituals, which traditionally last several days. His wife, Damu Sherpa, learned of his rescue through local news reports. His teenage daughter, Mendo Lhamu Sherpa, said the family initially struggled to believe the news. "When we first heard about it, we could not be sure if that person was indeed our father," she said. "So to be certain we asked for photos to be sent and then only we were sure and very happy."
British climber and former Royal Marine Chris Thrall was with Sherpa during their descent. Thrall said he last saw Sherpa sitting for a rest and asked if he was okay. "He said: 'Yes, yes, fine Chris, please go, go!'" Thrall explained that Sherpa had a satellite phone and radio but he was unsure if they were functioning. Thrall continued down to assist Sherpa's Polish client, who had no oxygen and frostbite, believing the experienced guide would make his own way down.
"The weather was so changeable and so bitter," Thrall said. "Tragic. Unfortunate. But it's the high mountains. That's it."
Community leaders have praised Sherpa's survival as extraordinary. Ang Tshering Sherpa, a prominent figure in Nepal's mountaineering community, called it "nothing short of a miracle." He noted that Sherpas' mountain heritage and physical resilience gave them advantages in extreme conditions. "If there was someone else in his place, they might not have survived," he said.
Sherpa works for Himalayan Traverse, a small Kathmandu-based company. His rescue came during May's record-breaking climbing season, which saw over 1,000 climbers and guides on Everest. Five people died during the season, which began late due to ice blockage on the route above base camp.