A Nepali guide who was presumed dead on Mount Everest has been found alive, crawling towards base camp nearly a week after going missing, and after his family had started funeral rituals.
Dawa Sherpa, also known as Hillary Dawa Sherpa, was last seen on 29 May in the 'death zone' above 7,200 metres. A helicopter search failed to locate the 52-year-old, but a climbing support team found him on Thursday morning as he crawled down the Khumbu icefall, just above base camp.
He had frostbite on his hands but appeared otherwise in good health. He was carried to safety, given food and water, and flown to a hospital in Kathmandu, where his wife and daughter were waiting. 'We first heard that he was still alive on the local news,' said his wife, Damu Sherpa. His daughter, Mendo Lhamu Sherpa, added that they had been on the second day of a funeral ritual when they learned of the rescue.
Dawa Sherpa was guiding a Polish climber for a small company called Himalayan Traverse. A British climber, Chris Thrall, had earlier posted a video tribute believing Dawa had died. Thrall recounted that Dawa had sat down for a rest and told him to go on. Thrall later found the Polish client without oxygen and with frostbite, and helped him down, assuming the experienced guide would follow.
Nepal's mountaineering community hailed the survival as miraculous. 'This is nothing short of a miracle surviving so many days on the mountains facing such harsh conditions,' said Ang Tshering Sherpa. 'Sherpas are built tough growing up in the mountains.'
May 2023 was the busiest climbing season ever on Everest, with over 1,000 climbers and guides. Five people died this season. Mountaineering experts often criticise authorities for allowing large numbers of climbers, which can lead to dangerous queues in the death zone.
