Trapped on Everest for days, Nepali survivor recounts escape

Sherpa, also known as Hillary like the legendary climber Edmund Hillary, was employed as a cook at Camp Two by a small expedition organiser, Himalayan Traverse Adventure.

But they roped him in as a substitute for a guide, despite never having summited Everest before.

Sherpa went as high as the Balcony, around 8,400 metres (27,559 feet) high, on May 28, before descending to Camp Four at dark with British climber Chris Thrall, Polish climber Mariusz Chmielewski, and guide Pasang Kaji Sherpa.

They were returning after one of the final summit pushes of the spring climbing season, in what has become the busiest year on record for Everest.

Thrall was the last to see Sherpa, after descending to an altitude of around 7,900 metres.

Sherpa said he fell behind because he ran out of oxygen, and told Thrall to continue.

“I told him to keep going, and that I will come,” he said. “But when my oxygen ran out, I couldn’t move my hands or feet. So I stayed at the rope for about half an hour.”

Alone and exhausted, he slowly made his way to a tent and found some noodles.

“I ate it, and it helped me gain consciousness … I then came down to Camp Three,” he said, still around 7,100 metres high, where he spent a night in howling gales.

“I heated water … cooked some porridge and had it.”

By then, the rest of the team had reached Camp Two and raised the alarm with the expedition company.

But search and rescue efforts were delayed.

Sherpa said that he had a satellite phone, which he could not get to work, and a walkie-talkie radio — but its batteries went flat.