Medics take Dawa Sherpa, a mountain guide who had been missing for six days on Mt. Everest, for treatment after he arrived at Grande Hospital in Kathmandu, Nepal, June 4, 2026. Niranjan Shrestha/AP Photo/Niranjan Shrestha
In a display of resilience that authorities have described as “astonishing,” a Mount Everest guide was located alive on Thursday, six days after he disappeared on the world’s highest peak.
The guide, identified as 52-year-old Hillary Dawa Sherpa, was discovered by a team engaged in waste removal. They observed the mountaineer “sliding and crawling” down an icefall just above Everest’s base camp, according to officials.
“He was found in a state where he was descending the icefall by sliding. This is itself a remarkable occurrence,” stated Pemba Sherpa, the executive director of 8K Expeditions, the organization that managed the search for the missing individual, speaking to The Kathmandu Post.
Mountaineer Dawa Sherpa, a Nepali climbing guide who had been missing for six days, is seen being carried by medics and rescuers upon his arrival at the HAMS Hospital in Kathmandu, June 4, 2026.Prabin Ranabhat/AFP via Getty Images
Nepal Mount Everest, a trekking company involved in Dawa’s search, announced on social media Thursday that the guide endured the ordeal “alone for nearly a week without sustenance, hydration, or supplemental oxygen.”
“This is nothing short of a miracle,” Nepal Mount Everest stated in their announcement.
Experiencing fatigue and severe frostbite on his extremities, Dawa was transported by a rescue helicopter to HAMS Hospital in Kathmandu, Nepal, where he was reunited with his relatives.
This photograph shows mountaineers climbing a slope lined up during their ascent, May 20, 2026, from the Hillary Step to summit Mount Everest in Nepal.Furte Sherpa/AFP via Getty Images
“He recognized me… is well and communicating,” reported Dawa’s daughter, Mhendo Lhamo Sherpa, to journalists at the medical facility. “We are joyful.”
Dawa disappeared last Friday, May 29, after becoming separated from his client, a climber from Poland, at an altitude of 24,600 feet. This location is approximately 1,600 feet below the region known as the Everest “Death Zone,” the altitude where the human body finds it exceedingly difficult to acclimatize, according to 8K Expeditions’ Pemba.
Medics take Dawa Sherpa, a mountain guide who had been missing for six days on Mt. Everest, for treatment after he arrived at Grande Hospital in Kathmandu, Nepal, June 4, 2026.Niranjan Shrestha/AP Photo/Niranjan Shrestha
The sherpa and his client were returning to base camp after failing to reach the mountain’s 29,032-foot summit, officials confirmed.
The circumstances leading to the separation of Dawa and his client, who successfully reached base camp, remain unclear. They were the final climbers descending the mountain as the Everest climbing season concluded last month, as reported by Reuters.
A team from the Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee, which was collecting refuse at the base camp and removing guide ropes and fixing ladders along the path to the summit, spotted Dawa making his way down the Khumbu Icefall. Rescuers characterized this area, situated at an elevation of 17,999 feet, as a hazardous glacier characterized by colossal ice formations and profound fissures.
Lama Kazi Sherpa, a committee member, reported that his team assisted in bringing Dawa, clad in his heavy-duty parka and insulated trousers, down to base camp.
Dawa was located following an extensive search operation conducted by a rescue helicopter in the vicinity of his disappearance, according to Capt. Bibek Khadka of Altitude Air Nepal, the service provider for the air rescue that transported Dawa to the hospital, as told to The Kathmandu Post.
Sourse: abcnews.go.com