Sherpa Guide Found Alive on Everest Nearly a Week After Going Missing

Dawa Sherpa, also known as 'Hillary Dawa Sherpa,' disappeared around May 29–30, 2026, while descending Everest after his supplemental oxygen ran out, leaving him unable to walk near the Yellow Band above Camp 3 at approximately 7,200 metres. His Polish client made it safely to base camp, but Dawa did not, and a helicopter search failed to locate him. He survived for nearly six days by chewing ice and eating a few chocolates and snacks from his pockets, and reportedly fell into a crevasse before climbing out after an avalanche filled the space with snow. Members of the Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee — a cleanup crew removing equipment at the end of the season — spotted him crawling through the Khumbu Icefall and carried him to safety; he was then airlifted to HAMS Hospital in Kathmandu, where his wife and daughter had already begun multi-day funeral rituals. As of June 10, he had been moved out of intensive care to a general ward, was conscious, speaking, and eating, though doctors continued monitoring his hands and legs for frostbite damage. His survival has been celebrated as a miracle by Nepal's mountaineering community, but the president of the Everest Summiteers Association and the Nepal Mountaineering Association have called for a government investigation into what they described as negligence in the search operation. The incident comes at the close of a record-breaking Everest season in which more than 1,000 climbers summited and Nepal issued a record 494 permits, collecting over $7 million in fees, prompting renewed debate about overcrowding and safety standards on the mountain.