The Happy Pod: Surviving six days alone on Everest

**Holly Gibbs** (0:00)
This is the HappyPod from the BBC World Service. I'm Holly Gibbs, and in this edition, a remarkable survival.

**Dawa Sherpa** (0:14)
I didn't think I would be alive. I thought I would perish this way.
As the oxygen ran out, I couldn't walk. I didn't eat anything for the first two days. Then I began chewing ice.

**Holly Gibbs** (0:24)
The man who spent six days alone on Mount Everest. Also on this podcast, how one mother's poem to her son ended up in his exam years later.
The joy of winning your own tiny island.

**Miriam Wieskman** (0:37)
I think it has taught me to just try things, even if they don't really seem promising at first, to just do all the crazy stuff that you think doesn't really make sense.

**Holly Gibbs** (0:47)
And.

**Samuel Henderson** (0:47)
It's my favorite bird. They were split in quetzal.

**Holly Gibbs** (0:55)
The boy who can mimic more than a hundred birds.
We start with the story of a climbing guide who miraculously survived alone on Mount Everest for six days with no equipment and almost no food. Dawa Sherpa's family feared the worst when he didn't return with his group and started planning his funeral. He was last seen on the most dangerous part of the mountain where oxygen is limited. But then a team clearing rubbish spotted him sliding and slowly crawling towards base camp. He was airlifted to Nepal's capital where he spoke to the BBC's Kamal Parriar.

**Kamal Parriar** (1:31)
I met him in the hospital bed. He looked extremely happy to have a new life and glad to meet his family members. He looked a little bit tired, but yeah, he was very excited to talk with me.
He never thought he would see his wife and daughter again. He was forced to stay behind after his oxygen ran out.

**Dawa Sherpa** (1:57)
I didn't think I would be alive. I thought I would perish this way.
I didn't go missing. I was forced to stay behind as my oxygen ran out.
As the oxygen ran out, I couldn't walk. I didn't eat anything for the first two days. Then I began chewing ice. It pained my teeth. I chewed the ice hard. No oxygen, but I had some chocolates in my pockets.

**Kamal Parriar** (2:19)
He had lost his bag as well. And during that time, he had also fallen into a crevasse, okay? This is how he explained how he came out of the crevasse and made his way safe back to home.

**Dawa Sherpa** (2:38)
Then, stepping on the snow, I stood up and looked above.
I felt I could get out from there. I concluded that I could do that. Then I searched for ropes. I found the ropes nearby. Then I caught a rope and moved some distance. But there was another avalanche. It was likely to get bigger.
Nonetheless, I got through the snow and moved downwards. I walked throughout that night. Then I came close to base camp. There was a group called the SPCC, the Sagamatha Pollution Control Committee. Its boys were going up to collect the waste. I met them. They carried me down.

**Kamal Parriar** (3:12)
Everyone is saying that it's a miracle.
It's been very hard for people to believe the story of survival. I got a chance to meet a lot of people and his well-wishers and his relatives as well. They were there with flowers and bouquet and they were wishing his spirit recovery. They said that this is only possible when there is a Sherpa. They were praising his bravery and they were praising his will for life, praising the power of Sherpas. Also, they talked about anything is possible when there is a Sherpa alive.
I talked to his wife and daughter also. They were very much happy to see Dawa Sherpa alive, but they are still waiting for the answers about why he was left alone.

**Holly Gibbs** (3:58)
Chris Thrall was on the climb with Dawa. He explains how he became separated from the group.

**Chris Thrall** (4:04)
Dawa sat down on his backpack as he had done hundreds of times before to take a short rest. And as I descended the next 50, 100 meters alone, I came across the Polish climber with no oxygen, battling fairly severe frostbite. So immediately my attention obviously turned to the weakest member of the trio.
What should have taken two hours? The conditions were so bad and with no oxygen, took about 11 hours. Complete whiteout, all the ropes were afoot under snow. We were just, you know, guessing which way to go and that we didn't all end up in a crevasse is quite, quite a godsend.