A veteran Sherpa guide who thought he’d die while spending nearly a week dragging himself down Everest is now out of intensive care. Dawa Sherpa, 57, vanished high on Everest on May 30 as his oxygen ran out; he later told the BBC he couldn’t walk and survived for days on a few chocolates, snacks, and ice he painfully chewed. He reportedly fell into a crevasse during his descent and only made it out after an avalanche sent snow into the space; he says he climbed out on top of it. Dawa Sherpa was finally spotted Thursday crawling toward Base Camp and airlifted to Kathmandu, having suffered from frostbite, severe dehydration, and a broken thigh bone.
A relative tells AFP he’s now in a regular ward and able to speak a little and eat. “Doctors are observing his hands and legs for improvement,” they added. His survival is being hailed as remarkable—and is also fueling anger. The president of the Everest Summiteers Association called what happened to him “negligence” and demanded a formal inquiry, a step also backed by the Nepal Mountaineering Association.