Published June 3, 2026 03:00PM<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
The busiest period in Mount Everest\u2019s history has ended in tragedy.<\/p>\n
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.\u00a0<\/em>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.<\/p>\n Hillary Dawa\u2019s disappearance has cast a pall over the busiest season on record for the climbing industry on the world\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n \u201cWe had such a successful season this year; t was the largest Everest season on record. The number of incidences was relatively minor,\u201d said Khim Lal Gautam of the Nepal Tourism Office, who is stationed at Mount Everest Base Camp. \u201cWe are so deeply saddened that at the very end this tragedy occurred, it reminds us how dangerous the mountain really is.\u201d<\/p>\n Hillary Dawa hails from the town of Khijidemba in Nepal\u2019s remote Okhaldunga district, which is located south of Mount Everest. Family members of Hillary Dawa told Outside<\/em> 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.<\/p>\n Kung Sherpa, a relative, told Outside<\/em> that he is frustrated with how Hillary Dawa\u2019s employer allegedly handled the search to find the missing man.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen 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,\u201d Kunga Sherpa wrote in a text message. \u201cThe missing climber, Hillary Dawa, remains unaccounted for, and concerns continue to grow as delays in communication and coordination persist.\u201d<\/p>\n Outside<\/em> made repeated attempts to seek comment from Himalayan Traverse via email, phone, and social media. The company\u2019s representatives have not responded to our outreach.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n 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\u00a0The Tourism Times<\/em>\u00a0that<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n \u201cThe expedition members removed only seven ladders on May 31, allowing the remaining climbers to descend safely from Camp II to Base Camp,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n 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<\/em> 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<\/a>.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n The four descended to Camp IV together. The next morning, the Polish climber and Thrall\u2019s climbing Sherpa descended first, leaving Thrall to hike down with Hillary Dawa.<\/p>\n <\/p>\nA Race to Get Off Mount Everest<\/h2>\n
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