A Nepali climbing guide who went missing on Mount Everest for six days and was believed dead has been found alive after crawling alone almost to Base Camp, officials told AFP on Thursday. His wife had even begun to offer last rites prayers for his soul, she told AFP at the hospital in the capital Kathmandu, where he is recovering from some frostbite but remains conscious.
Discovery Near Base Camp
Mountaineer Dawa Sherpa, in his 50s and better known as Hillary like famed climber Edmund Hillary, vanished on the upper reaches of the world's highest mountain in bitter conditions early on May 30. He was found on Thursday morning close to Base Camp by the Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee (SPCC), a Nepali team that helps set routes on Everest and cleans up waste left behind.
He was found by a team of SPCC this morning close to the base camp; he was crawling down, Pemba Sherpa of 8K Expeditions, which oversaw search and rescue efforts, told AFP. A helicopter flew him to Kathmandu, where an AFP team saw him carried out on a stretcher.
Medical Condition and Family Reaction
He is awake and undergoing treatment, said Nishant Dhakal, a doctor in the intensive care unit of Kathmandu's HAMS Hospital. We are managing his frostbites, cold injuries, hydration and trauma. He is being further evaluated and will remain in our ICU. Dawa Sherpa's wife, Damu Sherpa, expressed the family's overwhelming joy: We were very happy to hear the news, we had given up hope. We also began puja (last rite prayers) yesterday. His daughter Mendo Lhamu Sherpa said they almost did not believe it when they received a telephone call saying he was found. At first we were not sure if it was him, but they sent us photos to confirm, and then I was happy.
Companion's Account
Climber Chris Thrall, a former British Royal Marine, said he successfully summited the 8,849-meter (29,032-foot) peak with Dawa Sherpa around 5:00 pm on May 29. He posted a video message on Instagram on Wednesday mourning what he thought was Dawa Sherpa's death, calling him an absolute gentle giant of a man and a true tiger of the mountains. Thrall described how on May 30 he began to descend from Camp Four at around 7,950 meters, just below the low-oxygen death zone. He said Dawa Sherpa stopped to rest, and Thrall continued down, finding a Polish climber struggling without supplementary oxygen and suffering 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 Thrall. He faced a difficult decision: Do I go back for Sherpa, who's probably going to rock up and be fine, as he has done hundreds of times before? 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 shared his oxygen cylinder with the Pole as they descended, taking 11 hours to get to Camp Three, a journey that usually takes two hours.
Search and Season Context
Search teams set out to find Dawa Sherpa, but he was not seen again until Thursday morning, having made his way down on his own. The climb was one of the last of the season, meaning few other mountaineers were on the peak. At least five people have died this season two Indians and three Nepali climbers involved in Everest preparations. More than 1,000 climbers reached the summit this season, according to initial tallies by Nepali officials, making it the busiest season on record.
