An injured climber stranded on Mount Everest for days reveals how an avalanche saved his life

For three days, the Nepalese mountaineer Dawa Sherpa was trapped deep in the Everest crevasse, living on biscuits, chocolates and pieces of ice, while at home his family had already begun to mourn his death.

The Sherpa himself had almost given up hope of rescue, until the snow rumbled through the 25-foot deep crack, filling it with ice and creating a path to freedom.

“I’m so happy to be back, I thought I was going to die there,” Sherpa, 57, told AFP, giving his first full account of his life. a remarkable rescueas he recovers in an apartment in Kathmandu with his family.

He clawed his way out of the hole again he crawled down the highest mountain in the world with his frostbitten fingers, dragging his broken leg and finally almost reached Base Camp a week after he was last seen.

Back home, the monks had already begun to perform the last rites for him, as his wife and devout Buddhist daughter mourned him, thinking he was dead.

At first, in this rescue operation, it was reported that he had been missing for six days, starting on May 30.

In fact, even more surprising, Sherpa thinks he passed out from exhaustion the day before on May 29 – meaning he was alone on the mountain for a week.

“couldn’t move”

The Sherpa, also known as Hillary as climber Edmund Hillary, was employed as a cook at Camp Two by a small tour operator, Himalayan Traverse Adventure.

But they tied him as a rope instead of a guide, even though they had never met Everest before.

Sherpa walked up to Balcony, about 27,559 meters high, on May 28, before descending to Camp Four in the dark with British climber Chris Thrall, Polish climber Mariusz Chmielewski and guide Pasang Kaji Sherpa.

They were returning after the last summit of the spring climbing season, which has turned out to be Everest’s busiest year.

Thrall was the last to see the Sherpa, after descending at about 26,000 feet.

The Sherpa said he fell behind because he ran out of oxygen, and told Thrall to continue.

“I told him to continue, I will come,” he said. “But when my oxygen ran out, I couldn’t move my hands or feet. So I stayed on the rope for about half an hour.”

Alone and tired, he slowly went to the tent and got some noodles.

“I ate it, and it helped me wake up … then I went down to Camp Three,” he said, at about 23,000 feet, where he spent the night windsurfing.

“I drank water for them…I cooked porridge and ate it.”

By then, the rest of the group had reached Camp Two and flagged down the expedition company.

But search and rescue efforts were delayed.

Sherpa said he had a satellite phone, which he couldn’t get to work, and a walkie-talkie radio – but its batteries died.

Dry coffee and ice

The Sherpa struggled on the next day, reaching the second camp, but by then, all the other climbers had moved on.

Here too he was alone.

He planned to continue to Base Camp on foot, but when he crossed the treacherous Khumbu icefall, a broken head of ice, he fell into a hole.

“I slipped and fell on the stairs, and I hung there for a long time,” he said, adding that he was still holding a 62-kilogram bag containing eight empty oxygen tanks and a customer’s sleeping bags.

After his hands got tired he dropped the bag in the cold place.

Finally, he lost control, and fell.

“I hit my head but I stayed on a flat surface,” he said while injuring his leg.

Digging into his jacket, he pulled out frozen chocolate and dried coffee.

“I had biscuits and chocolates in my pockets, and coffee … I didn’t have hot water, so I cracked ice and wet my mouth,” he said.

On June 3 – six days since he was abandoned – a helicopter thundered overhead.

But he was still deep in the pit.

“I knew the helicopter had arrived, I could hear its sound, but I couldn’t see it,” he said.

“I didn’t think I would be alive,” he told BBC Nepali from his hospital bed earlier this month. “I thought I would perish this way.”

“No one came”

Sherpa said he spent two nights in the crevasse, unable to climb the “smooth walls.”

“There was nowhere to go, I wondered if I would live or die, I hoped that someone would rescue me,” he said.

“But no one came – instead, an avalanche did, to save me.”

Snow froze in the crack, allowing him to crawl out.

“It was very difficult, it must have taken me an hour – holding on to the ice, and holding on with crampons,” he said.

“I stepped on a piece of ice and went up a little. When I got off the slope, I felt that now I will be safe.”

When he got out, he found a rope and followed it, eventually crawling near Base Camp.

There, on the morning of June 4, he was found by the Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee, a team from Nepal that helps to set up routes on Everest and clean up the remaining waste.

“I am very happy to see them,” he said.

Sherpa was airlifted to Kathmandu, where doctors treated him for frostbite, dehydration and a broken femur.

His unexpected survival has caused the joy of other climbers, but also the anger of family members and the climbing community for failing to find him sooner.

The government launched an investigation.

Asked if he will return to the mountains again, Sherpa said that his time to climb mountains is over due to work.

“I won’t go to the mountains now, maybe I’ll just go for a walk,” he said.

“There must be a limit”

More than 1,000 climbers have reached the summit of Everest, according to preliminary figures from the Nepali government, making it the busiest season on record.

The government collected more than $7 million from issuing permits to climb Everest.

Passengers set the record straight on May 21, when 274 of them successfully climbed the Nepalese side of the mountain in one day, officials said. Experts have warned of the potential dangers of overcrowding, especially after that two climbers died during that record-setting day.

The increase in popularity not only increases the traffic on the mountain, but also means that hikers are more likely to be among the groups attempting the trek, one sherpa. he told AFP.

“There is a need for the authorities to control this population,” said Kami Rita Sherpa. “They should only allow quality climbers – there should be a limit.”