Climber who spent 6 days crawling on Mount Everest is out of intensive care: “I thought I was going to die”

A Nepalese mountaineer who spent six days crawling up Mount Everest after being abandoned has been released from intensive care as he slowly recovers, his family said on Tuesday. The update came after the climber said from his hospital bed that he thought he was going to die at the world’s highest point.

His survival is impossible he has sparked celebration among his fellow hikers, but also anger from family members and the hiking community for failing to find him immediately.

Dawa Sherpa, 57, disappeared under brutal conditions on the upper slopes of the world’s tallest mountain on May 30 during the last ascent of the spring season.

He was found on Thursday morning, crawling towards Base Camp, and was rushed to Kathmandu, where doctors treated him for frostbite, dehydration and a fractured femur.

“He was moved from the ICU (intensive care unit) to a ward and treatment is ongoing – he can speak a little and is eating,” his relative, Nuru Sherpa, told AFP. “Doctors are checking his hands and legs to make progress.”

Left in the freezing cold near Everest’s “death zone”, where oxygen levels are extremely low, Dawa Sherpa said he survived for days with almost no food or water.

“I thought I was going to perish like this. I didn’t get lost. As the oxygen ran out, I fell backwards. After the oxygen ran out, I couldn’t walk,” he told BBC Nepali from his hospital bed.

“I didn’t eat anything for the first two days. Then I started chewing ice. My teeth hurt. I chewed ice hard,” he said.

He survived on the few chocolates and snacks he had in his pockets.

“Indifference to his case”

Dawa Sherpa, also known as “Hillary” after the famous climber Edmund Hillary, told others after he was rescued that he had fallen into the hole.

But he pushed on and was found on his way to Base Camp by the Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee, a Nepalese team that helps set up routes on Everest and clean up the waste left behind.

“There was negligence in his case,” Maya Sherpa, president of the Everest Summiteers Association, told AFP on Tuesday. “An investigation must be conducted to find out what really happened so that similar incidents do not happen again.

The Nepal Mountaineering Association has asked a government committee to investigate the incident.

At least five climbers — two Indians and three Nepalis — died during this year’s Everest season.

“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.”