KATHMANDU - Nepali mountaineer Dawa Sherpa has recounted his miraculous survival after spending seven days alone on Mount Everest, including three days trapped inside a crevasse. The 57-year-old guide escaped only after an avalanche filled the ice crack with snow, creating a path to freedom.
Sherpa collapsed from exhaustion and oxygen deprivation at 7,900 meters on May 29 while descending from the Balcony. Separated from his team, he navigated alone to Camp Three before falling into a 25-foot crevasse in the Khumbu Icefall. He survived on frozen chocolate, biscuits, and ice chunks while his family in Kathmandu began mourning him as dead.
Rescue helicopters flew overhead on June 3 but could not locate him in the depths of the glacier. An avalanche subsequently deposited enough snow to allow Sherpa to claw his way out using crampons. He crawled toward Base Camp with a fractured thigh bone and frostbitten fingers until the Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee discovered him on June 4.
Medical teams treated Sherpa for severe dehydration, frostbite, and orthopedic injuries at HAMS Hospital. His survival has triggered a government investigation into delayed search and rescue operations by expedition organizer Himalayan Traverse Adventure. Sherpa stated his professional climbing career is now over following the ordeal.