Breaking · Records & People
Dawa "Hillary" Sherpa, 52, vanished high on Everest on May 29. Six days later a rubbish-collection crew found him crawling out of the Khumbu Icefall…
By Laxman Rawal · Jun 16, 2026
Every so often the mountains hand back someone they seemed certain to keep. In the final days of the spring 2026 season, Everest gave back Dawa "Hillary" Sherpa — a 52-year-old guide who vanished high on the mountain, was given up for lost, and six days later…
Travel Himalaya Nepal · News
Dawa was descending toward Base Camp, guiding a climber, when he disappeared above the upper camps on 29 May. For six days there was no radio contact and no sign of him. In the brutal arithmetic of high altitude, a guide missing that long is, realistically…
Travel Himalaya Nepal · News
The details, as he and rescuers have described them, are extraordinary. Making his way down alone, Dawa tried to jump a crevasse, missed, and fell in — trapped, with almost no hope of climbing out. He kept himself alive for about two and a half days on a few…
Travel Himalaya Nepal · News
Dawa's survival is a miracle worth celebrating — but it also points at a hard truth. It is Sherpa guides and high-altitude workers who shoulder the greatest danger on Everest, going up and down the deadly Icefall again and again so that clients can summit…
Travel Himalaya Nepal · News
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