Last week, Dawa accompanied an unnamed Polish climber in an attempt to climb the world’s highest peak, Mount Everest.
During the descent, however, he mysteriously got lost between the fourth and third high-altitude camp on Friday, when he sat down for a while to rest. The last words at that moment were exchanged with him by former British marine and adventurer Chris Thrall. When asked if he was okay, according to the BBC website, the Sherpa replied: “Yeah, yeah, fine, Chris, please, go, go.”
In the following hours and days, however, he did not appear at the base camp, because it was assumed that he had perished on the mountain. “Tragic turn of events my friends. Rest in peace big brother,” Thrall mourned the supposed loss on Instagram on Tuesday.
However, when the search team finally set out, they were in for a surprise. Dawa not only survived six days at an altitude where a longer stay can lead to dangerous swelling of the lungs and brain, but he even descended almost to the base camp.
During his involuntarily extended stay on the mountain, Dawa had no food and suffered numerous frostbites. He also won the admiration of the rescuers for overcoming deep cracks in the ice, over which ladders were no longer laid, the Tourism Times server pointed out.
Even his wife Damu and daughter Mendo Lhamu, who had already arranged his funeral, could not believe the news of his survival at first. “We weren’t sure if it was really Dad. That’s why we asked for photos and it was clear,” Mendo told Al Jazeera.
In May, more than a thousand climbers and their guides conquered Everest, which is the most in the history of the mountain. At the same time, at least five people died on it.
