Chocolate and Ice: Everest Guide Recounts Six-Day Survival After Being Given Up For Dead

A Nepali guide, Dawa Sherpa, has recounted his harrowing survival story after being found alive on Mount Everest six days after he was presumed dead. He told the BBC that he sustained himself by chewing ice and consuming chocolates he discovered in his pockets.

Sherpa insisted he did not disappear during his descent but was forced to stay behind when he ran out of oxygen. His family in Kathmandu had already begun funeral rites when a rescue team spotted him sliding down the mountain towards Base Camp. He was airlifted to a hospital in Kathmandu, where he is being treated for dehydration, frostbite, and a fracture.

"I didn't think I would live," Sherpa stated, admitting, "I thought I would die." The last person to see him before his rescue near the Khumbu Icefall was climber Chris Thrall. The retired British soldier described Sherpa, 57, as sitting on his backpack above Camp 3, approximately 7,500 meters high, resting as he had done many times before.

Sherpa explained that he couldn't walk without oxygen and initially ate nothing for two days, resorting to chewing ice, which caused him dental pain. Finding some chocolates provided a small sustenance. His ordeal worsened when he fell into a crevasse, remaining trapped for two and a half days without a way out. The arrival of snow from an avalanche into the crevasse offered a glimmer of hope, allowing him to stand and eventually find a way out.

Emerging from the crevasse, Sherpa found ropes that aided his descent. Despite facing another avalanche, his determination to survive propelled him forward. He managed to traverse the snow and continued descending through the night. His survival is a testament to his resilience in one of the world's most unforgiving environments.