BURSTNepali guide Dawa Sherpa, 52, has been found alive on Everest after surviving nearly a week alone following his disappearance. He was last seen on May 29 between camps three and four at around 7,500 metres. When he failed to return, many in the climbing community feared the worst, with some even posting tributes on social media.
Amazingly, Dawa was found alive on June 4 near the Khumbu Icefall by a cleanup team from the Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee (SPCC). The area had already been largely dismantled for the season, with fixed ladders and infrastructure removed. Rescuers reported finding him conscious but severely weakened and suffering from frostbite.
“This morning, a garbage management team from Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee rescued him near Crampon Point, where he was reportedly seen slowly crawling toward Everest Base Camp,” the SPCC said. “He was frostbitten and speaking very slowly, but alive.”
Officials and expedition sources say Dawa Sherpa survived for approximately six days without food or supplemental oxygen. He was later evacuated by helicopter to Kathmandu, where he is being treated for frostbite and other complications, and his family reports that he is conscious and recovering. The incident took place at the end of one of Everest’s busiest seasons on record, find more stories about it here.
Dawa Sherpa’s survival joins a long tradition of epic mountaineering escapes. One of the most famous happened after Doug Scott and Chris Bonington made the first ascent of The Ogre in 1977. During the descent, Scott fell and broke his legs, which forced him to crawl and slide. His survival depended heavily on the efforts of Bonington, Mo Anthoine and Clive Rowland. It remains one of the greatest survival stories in climbing history, read the full story here.
Another epic story unfolded on Siula Grande in 1985 when Joe Simpson broke his leg high on the mountain. Then during the descent his partner Simon Yates was forced to cut the rope after Simpson fell off a serac. Simpson fell into a crevasse and Yates descended alone. Against all odds, Simpson survived the fall, escaped the crevasse, and crawled for days across the glacier and moraine back to base camp. His account later became the acclaimed memoir and film Touching the Void.
A third legendary survival occurred on Everest in 2006. After reaching the summit, Lincoln Hall fell ill and was eventually declared dead and left behind high on the mountain. The following morning, another climbing team found him sitting upright, alive but frostbitten and hallucinating. A complex rescue effort succeeded in bringing Hall back down to safety, read the full story here.
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