Abandoned above the death zone by his own expedition, Sherpa guide Dawa Sherpa survived seven days without food or oxygen - crossing a ladderless icefall alone before being found crawling toward base camp
KATHMANDU, JUNE 4
For seven days, Dawa Sherpa had nothing - no food, no bottled oxygen, no rescue team looking for him. Somewhere between the death zone and the Khumbu Icefall, the 57-year-old Sherpa guide from Okhaldhunga was alone on the world's highest mountain, fighting to stay alive.
On the morning of June 4, he was found crawling toward Everest Base Camp.
Left behind
The story begins on the evening of May 29, the last day of Nepal's spring climbing season. Dawa, a guide with Himalayan Traverse Pvt. Ltd., was accompanying a Polish client descending from the South Col after the client abandoned his summit bid due to frostbite. The Polish climber moved ahead, falling in with other descending climbers toward Camp II. Dawa was left behind near the Yellow Band, just above Camp III, alone.
He never made it down to Camp II that night.
Himalayan Traverse confirmed at the time that the guide had been left alone near the Yellow Band while other climbers reached Camp II safely. "They waited for Dawa until the next day, but he didn't come," the company said.
What followed in the days after was perhaps the more damning part of the story: no search and rescue was launched. Not by Himalayan Traverse. Not for six days.
On May 31, the expedition's members returned to base camp - some by helicopter, others on foot - and the seven ladders across the treacherous icefall section were removed. Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee (SPCC) lays before the season and removes ladders after each climbing season because the Khumbu Icefall's constant shifting would crush or destroy them if left in place, and to prevent environmental pollution and unauthorized off-season climbing.
Dawa was still up there.
Abandoned by his own
The circumstances surrounding his abandonment carry an uncomfortable subtext about how the industry operates. Himalayan Traverse had not obtained its own Everest permit. Instead, it had shared a permit with 8K Expeditions - a common cost-cutting arrangement in Nepal's climbing industry that allows agencies to divide steep royalties, liaison officer fees, and base camp expenses.
The permit-sharing meant that when the crisis unfolded, questions of responsibility became muddied.
"Himalayan Traverse obtained an Everest permit through 8K Expedition, but it handled the expedition entirely on its own," said Lakpa Sherpa, Managing Director of 8K Expeditions, who noted his company had officially closed the Everest season on May 29.
When no rescue materialised from Himalayan Traverse, 8K stepped in - not out of obligation, but out of circumstance. On June 3, Lakpa mobilised a helicopter search, accompanied by a member of Dawa's own family, flying up to 7,300 metres. They found nothing.
Dawa's family was unequivocal about where the blame lay. His disappearance near Camp III, a family member said, was the result of sheer negligence by the expedition handling agency. His wife, Damu Sherpa, has since demanded stern action against Himalayan Traverse and those responsible for leaving him alone in the death zone, while also criticising the authorities for failing to act promptly.
The Department of Tourism said it had taken the matter seriously from the moment Dawa's disappearance was reported, maintaining continuous coordination with the concerned agency and all relevant stakeholders in the search and rescue effort. The department, in a press release issued on June 4, expressed its gratitude to all those who assisted in locating and evacuating Dawa, and wished him a swift recovery.
Seven days. No food. No oxygen.
What Dawa endured in those seven days defies easy description. Stranded at extreme altitude without supplemental oxygen, in temperatures that kill far better-equipped climbers, he began moving - slowly, painfully - downward. He crossed the icefall section on his own, navigating crevasses that the removed ladders had previously bridged.
On June 3, a helicopter carrying Captain Bibek Khadka, guide Pranav Sherpa, and Dawa's relative Ang Kami Sherpa swept the mountain. Dawa saw it from the icefall. He raised both arms twice. The helicopter did not see him. "I saw them fly over me," Dawa reportedly told the SPCc team after his rescue. "But they didn't notice me."
He kept moving.
The following morning, a garbage management team from the SPCC spotted him near Crampon Point, crawling toward base camp. SPCC Chief Executive Officer Tshering Sherpa confirmed the rescue. "Dawa is suffering from frostbite and speaks very slowly," he said at the time.
How a man crosses the Khumbu Icefall alone, without ladders, after seven days without food or supplemental oxygen at that altitude, is a question rescuers are still grappling with. "How Dawa crossed the deep crevasse along the icefall section with no ladders is both scary and amazing," said SPCC rescuer Durga Rai.
An Altitude Helicopter dispatched from Lukla by 8K Expeditions airlifted him from Gorakshep to HAMS Hospital in Kathmandu for treatment.
Stable, but scarred
Doctors at HAMS Hospital have confirmed that Dawa is stable and out of danger, recovering more quickly than expected. "The fingers of both his hands suffered frostbite, but the rest seems OK," they said. SPCC CEO Tshering called it what it was: "This is a miraculous survival."
The human cost, however, extends beyond frostbitten fingers. Back in his village, his family had given him up for dead. Funeral rituals had already begun before word reached them that he was alive.
A record season's darkest story
The Spring 2026 Everest season will be remembered for its numbers. A record 495 climbers across 51 teams held summit permits. Unofficial summit tallies point to more than 1,000 ascents - the highest single-season total in Everest history. Royalties crossed Rs 1.07 billion, the first season under the new $15,000 permit fee.
Five deaths were confirmed on Everest. A sixth was nearly added.
The season also quietly underscored a structural tension in how Nepal's climbing industry functions - where permit-sharing arrangements can obscure accountability, and where the guides who make every ascent possible can, in the worst moments, find themselves entirely alone.
Dawa Sherpa survived in spite of all of that. Seven days. No food. No oxygen. No rescue. Just the will to come down.
(Updated)
