Nepali climber found alive after six days missing on Mount Everest

Against the odds on the slopes of Mount Everest, a Nepali climbing guide missing for six days and feared dead has been found alive after dragging himself alone down toward Base Camp, officials said.

By the time he was discovered, his wife said, she had already started last rite prayers. Speaking from a hospital in the capital Kathmandu, where he is now recovering, she described a family swinging from grief to disbelief.

Mountaineer Dawa Sherpa – who is in his 50s, and is better known as “Hillary” after famed climber Edmund Hillary because of his long experience – disappeared high on the upper slopes of the world’s tallest mountain in punishing conditions early on 30 May.

He was found this morning near Base Camp by the Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee (SPCC), the Nepali team that helps fix routes on Everest and clear the mountain of rubbish left behind. He was then flown by helicopter to Kathmandu.

“I spoke to the doctors – he has some frostbite, but otherwise seems okay,” Pemba Sherpa added.

Dawa Sherpa’s wife Damu Sherpa said the news had transformed her family’s despair into joy.

“We were very happy to hear the news, we had given up hope,” she said. “We also began puja (death prayers) yesterday.”

‘Tiger of the mountains’

Climber Chris Thrall, a former British Royal Marine, said he reached the summit of the 8,849-metre peak with Dawa Sherpa at about 5pm on 29 May.

On Wednesday morning, before Dawa Sherpa was found, he posted a video message on Instagram honouring the guide he believed had died.

In that tribute, Mr Thrall described Dawa Sherpa as an “absolute gentle giant of a man” and a true ‘tiger of the mountains'”, words written in anticipation of the worst.

Mr Thrall said that on 30 May he began his descent from Camp Four – at around 7,950m – just below the low-oxygen “death zone”.

During the descent, he said, Dawa Sherpa paused.

“He sat down for a rest with his backpack, these guys carry huge loads,” he said.

“And I turned and I said, ‘Hillary, are you okay, brother?’ He said, ‘Yes, yes, fine Chris, please go, go!’ This is nothing new, you know, I’d go ahead, he’d go ahead.”

Further down, Mr Thrall came across a Polish climber in trouble after he ran out of supplementary oxygen and suffered frostbite.

“It had been a long summit push. What should have been five days to the summit and back took us 11 days, that’s how challenging the conditions were,” said Mr Thrall.

“So, do I go back for Sherpa, who’s probably going to rock up and be fine, as he has done hundreds of times before?” he added.

“Or do I help my fellow climber, who’s got no oxygen, frostbite in his fingers, and obviously you’re never far off hypothermia up there?”

Thrall recounted the brutal conditions, saying he shared his oxygen cylinder with the Polish climber as they made their way down, a journey to Camp Three that took 11 hours instead of the usual two.

“I realised we had a really serious situation,” he said.

Search teams went out looking for Dawa Sherpa, but there was no sign of him again until Thursday morning, when he emerged after descending on his own.

The expedition came during one of the final climbing windows of the season, when only a small number of other mountaineers remained on the mountain.

At least five people have died this season – two Indians and three Nepali climbers involved in Everest preparations.

Initial tallies from Nepali officials show that more than 1,000 climbers reached the summit of Everest this season, making it the busiest season on record.