A Nepali climbing guide who went missing on Mount Everest a week ago without food or oxygen has been found alive, having crawled alone almost all the way back to Base Camp.
Hillary Dawa Sherpa, 52, was discovered Thursday morning after vanishing from the upper reaches of the world’s highest mountain in the final hours of the 2026 climbing season.
Dawa, a husband and father, had been returning with a Polish climber after failing to reach the 8,849 metre summit when he went missing between Camp III and Camp IV.
The latter sits at an altitude of around 8,000 metres and is termed ‘the death zone’, with oxygen levels too low to sustain human life for long.
The veteran climber was found by an organising team “close to the base camp … crawling down” with “some frostbite” but otherwise in good health, Pemba Sherpa of 8K Expeditions, overseeing the rescue efforts, told the AFP news agency.
The lost climber’s wife said the family were “very happy” to learn of his return, adding that they had already begun last rite prayers for his soul.
Dawa, still in a climbing jacket, was rushed from the helipad to hospital on a trolley. His family said he was doing well and undergoing treatment for frostbite and other complications.
“He recognised me … is good and speaks,” said Mhendo Lhamo Sherpa, the guide’s daughter. “We are happy.”
Family members told Outside that Dawa – who is named after famed mountaineer Edmund Hillary – had spent several years working and guiding on Everest. They said the seasonal work was a crucial source of income for his wife and teenage daughter.
Pasang Dawa Sherpa, a Nepalese climber, shared pictures of the returning guide on Facebook, still equipped with a summit suit while eating and resting, with apparent frostbite on his hands.
According to The Himalayan Times, the guide went seven days without food, bottled oxygen or a rescue team. They were among the last climbers on Everest this season, which ended at the end of last month.
Durga Rai, an SPCC rescuer, told The Himalayan Times: “How Dawa crossed the deep crevasse along the icefall section with no ladders is both scary and amazing.”
Chris Thrall, a former British Royal Marine, said he was the last person to see Dawa, having successfully reached the summit of the mountain with him on 29 May.
In a tribute to Dawa on Wednesday, then presumed dead, Thrall described him as an “absolute gentle giant of a man and a true ‘tiger of the mountains’”.
He described how on 30 May he had started to descend from Camp IV when Dawa stopped for a “rest”.
Dawa was said to have insisted that Thrall carry on. On the way down, Thrall found a Polish climber with frostbite who had run out of bottled oxygen.
Torn between helping the Polish climber and going back for the veteran Sherpa, Thrall said he shared his oxygen cylinder with the Pole as they made their way back to Camp III over 11 hours – a journey that would usually take just two.
Search teams rallied to find Dawa but he was not seen again until this morning, having heroically made his way down alone.
Kung Sherpa, a relative, told Outside that he was frustrated with how Dawa’s employer had handled the search and rescue mission.
“When informed that significant time had already passed since the incident, [the company director] further explained that the insurance company had not been responding regarding the rescue and recovery procedures,” Kunga Sherpa told the outlet before Dawa was found.
A record number of more than 1,000 climbers and their guides scaled Everest this season, with the government issuing 494 permits. At least five people have died, including two Indians and three Nepali climbers involved in preparations.
Many climbers were stranded at base camp after a towering block of glacial ice delayed the opening of the route to the world’s tallest peak in April.
