Guide missing for a week on Mount Everest found alive: "Miracle"

World Guide missing for a week on Mount Everest found crawling to base camp: "Nothing short of a miracle" Updated on: June 4, 2026 / 8:37 AM EDT / CBS/AP Add CBS News on Google A Sherpa guide who went missing last week while descending Mount Everest with a client has been found alive, according to the crew that led the search for him. His survival amid treacherous conditions on the world's tallest peak has been hailed as "a miracle" by the mountaineering community in Nepal.Dawa Sherpa, 52, was located while crawling down to base camp and has since been reunited with his family, who said they had given up hope for his return."This is nothing short of a miracle surviving so many days on the mountains facing such harsh condition," said Ang Tshering Sherpa, a leading figure in the community. "Sherpas are built tough growing up in the mountains. ... If there was someone else in his place they might not have survived."Dawa was last seen around May 29 descending the mountain, but he did not reach base camp even though his client did. The pair were among the last climbers on the mountain as the climbing season came to an end and the route was dismantled.Dawa was located by a cleaning crew Thursday morning as he was crawling down the snowy slopes around the Khumbu Icefall, just above base camp, said Pemba Sherpa of 8K Expeditions, which coordinated the search.He was quickly carried down to safety and given food and water. A rescue helicopter flew him to HAMS Hospital in Kathmandu, where his wife and daughter, who already had begun funeral rituals for him, were waiting. "We first heard that he was still alive on the local news and from a person we know who called with the news that ... he is being brought down," said his wife, Damu Sherpa. Though Dawa had been missing since last week, there was a delay in organizing a search team. No reasons were given for the delay, but when helicopters were finally sent to look for him, they could not find him. Medics take Dawa Sherpa, a mo...