Sherpa survives 6-day Everest ordeal, crawls down 12km from 25k feet sans food, oxygen

In what climbers are calling a miracle, a 52-year-old Sherpa guide who was presumed dead in Mount Everest after he vanished during descent on May 29 was found alive after six days near Base Camp on Thursday morning.

Dawa ‘Hillary’ Sherpa –- who earned the moniker for his mountaineering expertise — covered more than 12km from Yellow Band (25,000ft) to Crampon Point (17,000ft) in difficult weather without food, water or supplemental oxygen, crossing the treacherous Khumbu Icefall after the climbing season had ended and ropes and ladders on the route had been removed.

His family, having lost hope, was reading prayers for his last rites when they were told that Dawa had survived, scavenging leftover tents for scraps of food, water, and remnants of discarded bottled oxygen.

Dawa was descending after summiting Everest at 5pm on May 28 with a group that included British climber Chris Thrall, a former Royal Marine, and a Polish climber when he was last seen near Yellow Band on May 29. Reports said the Polish climber reached Base Camp, but Dawa did not. Thrall even "paid tribute" to Dawa on social media, saying, “RIP... mero dai”. Rest in peace, my elder brother.

In the 13-minute video posted on Instagram on Wednesday, Thrall said, “Dawa sat down for a rest with his backpack. These guys carry huge loads...” He added, that he checked on Dawa before moving on. “I turned to him and said, ‘Hillary, are you OK brother?’ He said, ‘Yes, yes, I’m fine, Chris. Please go.’”

Thrall said that as he descended, he saw a Polish climber from his team who "had frostbite and had run out of supplemental oxygen”. He said, “I come from the British Royal Marines — we are taught to never leave anyone behind... I have only half a tank of oxygen left. Do I take the Polish climber who has frostbite, or go back for the Sherpa who is probably going to rock up and be fine like he has a hundred times before?” His account of events has not been independently verified.

Thrall said he shared oxygen with the Polish climber and descended with him, and later reported Dawa missing after reaching lower camps. After criticism mounted online over why he did not return for Dawa, Thrall said he was tired of being called a “murderer” on social media. Once Dawa was found alive, Thrall said he was “elated and so happy for him and his wonderful family”.

The Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee (SPCC) cleanup team that had been removing route equipment spotted Dawa near Crampon Point and brought him down before he was flown to a Kathmandu hospital with frostbite and other complications. “He is in intensive care, but out of danger,” a doctor at HAMS Hospital, Kathmandu said.

Dawa’s family had already begun last rites prayers when the rescue news arrived, but the first call brought disbelief rather than relief. “We could not be sure if that person was indeed our father,” his daughter Mhendo Lhamo Sherpa said. “We asked for photos to be sent and only then were sure and very happy.” After she met him in hospital, Mhendo said, “He recognised me … is good and speaks. We are happy.”

For climbers and guides, the part that stood out was not only that Dawa survived nearly six days without supplies, but that he moved through active crevasses and broken terrain. Nima Tenzing Sherpa, an independent high-altitude guide, told TOI, “Two days in a deep crevasse below Camp I after a full week in the death zone? Surviving on ice and one packet of biscuits at that altitude is an unbelievable feat of mental strength. Most people lay down and accept the end, but Dawa chose to fight. He is a tiger of the mountains.”

Several guides and climbers have raised questions about the delay in finding Dawa and the rescue response. Mingma C Sherpa, an independent high-altitude porter, told TOI climbers often made “dangerous assumptions” about Sherpas because of their experience and achievements at high altitude. “Foreign climbers assume we are invincible — a dangerous mindset but a common one. When a client is told by an elite guide to move ahead so they can rest, they trust that expertise. Thrall made a textbook survival choice under brutal conditions.”

Others accused the Kathmadu-based agency that employs Dawa of “negligence and indifference”. Pasang Geljen Sherpa, an independent expedition logistics coordinator, told TOI, “It is absolutely shameful that Himalayan Traverse left him behind in the closing rush. This is the dark side of commercial Everest — when the clock runs out, the commercial teams vanish, and guides become disposable. Dawa saved himself; his agency gave him no chance.”

tried to reach Himalayan Traverse through text messages and calls for response to the allegations, but their phones remained switched off.
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