Climbing Mt. Everest has got to be one of the single most impressive feats a human being can do. The sheer danger of climbing any mountain after a certain point makes things extremely perilous—but the sense of accomplishment upon reaching the summit, especially that of the tallest point in the world, must be exhilarating.
But most don't go it alone on Everest. They're accompanied by expert guides who know the mountain like the back of their hand.
Things can even go wrong for them, too. And the brutal conditions mean they may not make it, even with their expert knowledge.
At least, that's what everyone thought happened to seasoned Sherpa, Hillary Dawa Sherpa. According to Yahoo! News, he had gone missing on Friday, May 29, after being separated from the Polish client he was helping.
And everyone thought he had passed away. But he was spotted 6 whole days later by a garbage collection team.
He was found in a sorry state—he was "sliding and crawling" down an icefall near base camp. But the pure level of survival is crazy in its own right.
Pemba Sherpa, who led the original search for Dawa Sherpa, called the incident "astonishing". "He was found in a condition where he was slowly sliding down through the icefall."
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The Sherpa Recalled the Incident In His Own Words
The Sherpa explained to BBC Nepali that he survived by eating chocolate and "chewing ice."
"I didn't think I would be alive," he explained. "I thought I would perish this way."
"As the oxygen ran out, I couldn't walk." He had been left behind to save another man's life, but the people with him couldn't find him.
He survived by eating what he had in his pocket, and then later, by eating ice. "I didn't eat anything for the first two days. Then I began chewing ice. It hurt my teeth. I chewed the ice hard."
His daughter later visited him, and she was delighted to see that he recognized her. He had been admitted to the hospital with severe frostbite in his hands, alongside dehydration. What an astonishing story indeed!
