Mount Everest guide survives six-day ordeal by 'chewing ice'

A Mount Everest guide survived in an incredible way through ice. "The climber survives a near-fatal six-day ordeal by chewing ice—an idea that could save many future climbers.

As reported, the Nepali guide Dawa Sherpa was discovered crawling down Everest six days after he was last seen alive and saved his life with a handful of ice and by eating a few chocolates he found in his pocket.

Dawa Sherpa was adamant he did not "go missing" on the descent down but instead was forced to "stay behind" after his oxygen ran out.

It had been assumed Sherpa had perished on the mountain with his family back in Nepal's capital, Kathmandu, and started to perform rites before he was spotted by a cleanup team "sliding" down the mountain towards base camp.

The struck guide was then airlifted to a hospital in Kathmandu, where he received his treatment for dehydration, frostbite, and a fractured bone.

"I didn't think I would be alive, and I thought I would perish this way."

Climber Chris Thrall was the last person known to have seen Dawa Sherpa alive before he was rescued near the Khumbu Icefall on Thursday.

Dawa Sherpa said that up above the mountains, he had found himself in trouble as soon as he got trapped in a crevasse.

"As the oxygen ran out, I couldn't walk, nor did I eat anything for the first two days. Then I began chewing ice hard till my teeth pained."

For two and a half days he was trapped in the mountains and unable to find a way out.Then an avalanche sent snow tumbling into the crevasse and gave him the first hope he had had in days.

"Stepping on the snow, I stood up and looked above... It felt I could get out from there."

Another avalanche threatened his progress, but he was determined to keep going.

"I got through the snow and moved downward. I walked throughout that night, and then I came close to the base camp."

His survival is being described by climbers and rescue officials as extraordinary because the area where he disappeared is part of Everest's notorious "death zone," where oxygen levels are too low for sustained human survival.

Notably, the news has left the whole Sherpa community, climbers, and his family in shock.

Previously, five people have died during this year's climbing season, with more than 300 dying since records began in the 1920s.