Dawa Sherpa, a Nepali climber who went missing above Camp III on Mt Everest since last week, has been found alive after a miraculous survival and making an extraordinary descent alone from high on the mountain.

He was discovered this morning near Crampon Point by an SPCC garbage management team while crawling toward base camp suffering from frostbite and severely weakened.

“He was found in a condition where he was slowly sliding down through the icefall. It is in itself an astonishing incident,” Pemba Sherpa said, adding that Sherpa is being flown to Kathmandu for treatment, The Kathmandu Post reported.

A helicopter from Altitude Air was deployed from Kathmandu on Wednesday for the search and rescue operation in the Everest region.

The miraculous survival comes during a climbing season; in the Everest and Makalu regions alone, at least five people have died this season -- two Indians and three Nepali climbers involved in Everest preparations.

More than 1,000 climbers and their guides scaled Everest this May, which was the busiest climbing season ever on the world's highest mountain.

Dawa, 52, works for a small Kathmandu-based company Himalayan Traverse, and he comes from the town of Okhaldhunga, south of Everest.

The report stated that Dawa Sherpa went missing on May 29 near Camp III. Initial reports indicate he was assisting a Polish climber before he separated from the group and disappeared.

The Polish climber moved ahead, falling in with other descending climbers toward Camp II. Dawa was left behind near the Yellow Band, just above Camp III, alone.

He never made it down to Camp II that night. No search and rescue operation was launched by the Himalayan Traverse. Dawa was left alone with no food in the thin air and no bottled oxygen support.

When no rescue materialised from Himalayan Traverse, on June 3, Lakpa Sherpa, Managing Director of 8K Expeditions mobilised a helicopter search, accompanied by a member of Dawa's own family, flying up to 7,300 metres. They found nothing.

Dawa's disappearance near Camp III, a family member said, was the result of sheer negligence by the expedition handling agency, reported The Himalayan Times.

Stranded at extreme altitude without supplemental oxygen, in temperatures that kill far better-equipped climbers, Dawa Sherpa began moving - slowly, painfully - downward.

He crossed the icefall section on his own, navigating crevasses that the removed ladders had previously bridged, reported The Himalayan Times.

On June 3, a helicopter carrying Captain Bibek Khadka, guide Pranav Sherpa, and Dawa's relative Ang Kami Sherpa swept the mountain. Dawa saw it from the icefall. He raised both arms twice. The helicopter did not see him. He kept moving.

The following morning, a garbage management team from the Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee (SPCC) spotted him near Crampon Point, crawling toward base camp. SPCC chief executive officer Tshering Sherpa confirmed the rescue.

How a man crosses the Khumbu Icefall alone, without ladders, after seven days without food or supplemental oxygen at that altitude, is a question rescuers are still grappling with. "How Dawa crossed the deep crevasse along the icefall section with no ladders is both scary and amazing," said SPCC rescuer Durga Rai.