Mount Everest climber recounts moment he lost guide who survived alone for six days

BBC:

A former British soldier has recounted the moment he became separated from a Nepali mountain guide as they were descending Mount Everest.

Dawa Sherpa was found alive on Thursday, after six days in what’s known as the “death zone”. Climber Chris Thrall said that at first, it was impossible to believe Sherpahad survived against the odds.

Thrall told BBC’s Newshour: “It’s kind of crazy one minute to be fighting back tears with his daughter, and then the next minute to see him crawling into town. It’s absolutely amazing, beyond words”.

Thrall had last seen Dawa Sherpa sitting on his backpack to have a short rest as they made their way back towards base camp after arduous days of climbing.

Thrall passed the guide, also known as Hillary Dawa Sherpa after famed mountaineer Edmund Hillary.

He continued to descend alone for what he estimated to be about 50-100m before he came across another member of their group, a “Polish climber with no oxygen, battling fairly severe frostbite”.

“So immediately my attention turned to the weakest member of the trio. And that was that,” he told Newshour.