Published June 3, 2026 03:00PM
The busiest period in Mount Everest’s history has ended in tragedy.
On May 29, the final day of the 2026 spring climbing season on the peak, a Nepali mountain guide went missing on the mountain and is now presumed to be dead. Hillary Dawa Sherpa, a high-altitude worker and guide with the Nepali outfitter Himalayan Traverse, was last seen between Camp IV at 26,000 feet and Camp III at 23,300 feet while descending the peak with a British climber.
Hillary Dawa’s disappearance has cast a pall over the busiest season on record for the climbing industry on the world’s highest peak. This year a reported 950 climbers, guides, and high-altitude workers reached the top while ascending the route from Nepal. Prior to May 29, five people had died on the mountain during the spring season.
“We had such a successful season this year; t was the largest Everest season on record. The number of incidences was relatively minor,” said Khim Lal Gautam of the Nepal Tourism Office, who is stationed at Mount Everest Base Camp. “We are so deeply saddened that at the very end this tragedy occurred, it reminds us how dangerous the mountain really is.”
Hillary Dawa hails from the town of Khijidemba in Nepal’s remote Okhaldunga district, which is located south of Mount Everest. Family members of Hillary Dawa told Outside that he had spent several years working and guiding on Mount Everest, and that his seasonal job was a critical source of income for his wife and teenage daughter.
Kung Sherpa, a relative, told Outside that he is frustrated with how Hillary Dawa’s employer allegedly handled the search to find the missing man.
“When informed that significant time had already passed since the incident, [the company director] further explained that the insurance company had not been responding regarding the rescue and recovery procedures,” Kunga Sherpa wrote in a text message. “The missing climber, Hillary Dawa, remains unaccounted for, and concerns continue to grow as delays in communication and coordination persist.”
Outside made repeated attempts to seek comment from Himalayan Traverse via email, phone, and social media. The company’s representatives have not responded to our outreach.
A Race to Get Off Mount Everest
Hillary Dawa disappeared on Mount Everest amid a rush to get off the peak in the waning hours of the 2026 climbing season, and before workers removed vital climbing infrastructure on the mountain.
Tshering Sherpa, the CEO of the Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee, the group that oversees the construction of critical sections of the Mount Everest route, told The Tourism Times that it notified expedition operators that workers would begin dismantling sections of the route between Base Camp and Camp II at 21,000 feet on May 29.
But several expedition companies launched their bids to reach the summit in the final days of May, and a handful of climbers were descending the peaks when the May 29 deadline approached. Tshering Sherpa said that SPCC officials left critical ladders and infrastructure in the Khumbu Icefall intact, which would allow the climbers to descend to Base Camp.
“The expedition members removed only seven ladders on May 31, allowing the remaining climbers to descend safely from Camp II to Base Camp,” he said.
One of the climbers who was descending the peak was a British mountaineer and YouTuber named Chris Thrall, who was a climbing client with Himalayan Traverse. Thrall, 56, told Outside that he was descending alongside Hillary Dawa and two other climbers on May 29. Thrall also recounted his experience in a lengthy video that he published to Instagram.
Thrall said he was descending from the summit with a Sherpa when he met another Himalayan Traverse client, a climber from Poland who Thrall did not identify, and Hillary Dawa, above Camp IV at 26,000 feet.
The four descended to Camp IV together. The next morning, the Polish climber and Thrall’s climbing Sherpa descended first, leaving Thrall to hike down with Hillary Dawa.
“I was left alone with Hillary Dawa Sherpa in the death zone at Camp IV. We got our stuff together and started to descend to what was supposed to be to Camp II,” he said.
Thrall told Outside that he and Hillary Dawa traded places during the harrowing descent, which takes climbers across the Geneva Spur, over the so-called Yellow Band, and down the Lhotse Face.
When the two reached the Yellow Band—a horizontal line of yellowish rocks—at around 24,600 feet, Thrall said that Hillary Dawa stopped hiking and sat down.
“He sat down for a rest with his backpack. As you know, these guys carry huge loads,” Thrall said. “I turned to him and said, ‘Hillary, are you OK brother?’ He said, ‘Yes, yes, I’m fine, Chris. Please go.”
A Tough Decision at 25,000 Feet
Thrall said he descended an additional 1,200 feet down the Lhotse Face and caught up with the Polish climber, who was struggling on the ropes. The Polish climber was out of oxygen and suffering from frostbite and needed help, Thrall said.
He told Outside that he looked up the slope and saw Hillary Dawa still sitting and resting in the same place. Thrall said the situation presented a challenging decision to make: Should he help the Polish climber or climb back up to check on Hillary Dawa?
“I come from the British Royal Marines—we are taught to never leave anyone behind,” Thrall told Outside. “I have only a half tank of oxygen left. Do I take the Polish climber who has frostbite, or go back for the Sherpa who is probably going to rock up and be fine like he has a hundred times before?”
Thrall said he and the Polish climber descended to Camp II at 21,000 feet, where they found an abandoned tent. Thrall shared his oxygen supply and melted snow for drinking water. They rested for two hours and waited for Hillary Dawa to arrive, but he never arrived.
“When we reached Camp II, we were the walking dead,” Thrall told Outside. He said he radioed Base Camp and told officials that Hillary Dawa had not arrived. Thrall said he looked back up the Lhotse Face and saw the outline of Hillary Dawa high on the slope. He said that his headlamp had gone out.
By then, Thrall and the Polish climber were past the May 29 deadline for descending the peak. But they descended past Camp I at 19,000 feet and through the Khumbu Icefall back to Base Camp. Thrall said the journey from Camp II to Base Camp took 19 hours to complete—a journey that usually takes climbers five hours to complete.
Both were eventually airlifted from Base Camp. Hillary Dawa never made it down.
A Call That Never Triggered a Rescue
Thrall told Outside that he’s received ample criticism on social media for descending Mount Everest without Hillary Dawa. “I’m already tired of being called a murderer on social media,” he said.
In the wake of the tragedy, publications covering Everest have asked the same question: Why didn’t Thrall’s radio message to Base Camp on May 30 trigger a rescue mission? Gautam told Outside that a rescue mission had started on Tuesday, June 2—three days after Thrall radioed to Base Camp.
Like many smaller expedition companies, Himalayan Traverse works with one of Nepal’s larger expedition outfitters to obtain climbing permits and insurance. For 2026, the company worked with 8K Expeditions, which put 72 clients on the summit of Everest this year. For a service fee, 8K processed the expedition permits and held the insurance policy that covered the Himalayan Traverse expedition.
8K Expeditions’ co-founder and director, Lakpa Sherpa, alleges that, in the hours after Hillary Dawa went missing, his company was never asked to initiate a rescue.
“They never contacted us. I found out about the incident from the media,” Lakpa Sherpa told Ouside. “There was never a request to initiate a rescue or a recovery mission. This is a situation where we need to do everything we can to support the family of the missing Sherpa.”
Explorersweb reported that 8K Expeditions launched a helicopter search mission on Wednesday, June 3 to try and locate Hillary Dawa. The aerial mission found no trace of him.
Pemba Sherpa, co-founder of 8K Expeditions, told Explorersweb that the company initiated the rescue mission at the behest of Hillary Dawa’s family.
“We have searched everywhere from the top of the icefall to the surroundings of Camp 3, as high as the helicopter could fly, and we have found no trace of him,” Pemba Sherpa said.
Outside offers its condolences to the family and friends of Hillary Dawa Sherpa.
