The Happy Pod: Surviving six days alone on Everest
Global News Podcast
BBC
4.3 • 8.3K Ratings
🗓️ 13 June 2026
⏱️ 27 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
We hear from the man who survived for nearly a week on one of the most dangerous parts of Mount Everest with little food, no water and few supplies. Dawa Sherpa became separated from his group after running out of oxygen during bad weather and his family had begun mourning his death. But, after six days, he was found by a cleaning crew, crawling and sliding his way back to base camp.
Also: The teenager who was surprised to find his exam paper included a poem he'd inspired. It had been written by his mum several years earlier. How an art student from Germany ended up in charge of a Swedish island. The US singer Barry Manilow returns to the stage after overcoming lung cancer. Plus the boy who can impersonate the calls of more than a hundred birds; and the mysterious knitted toys that have been popping up around an English village. Our weekly collection of inspiring, uplifting and happy news from around the world.
(Photo: Dawa Sherpa arriving at a hospital in Kathmandu. Credit: Reuters)
Presenter: Holly Gibbs. Music composed by Iona Hampson
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, music, radio, podcasts. |
| 0:07.3 | If American politics is leaving you with a lot of questions, you're not alone. |
| 0:12.2 | On America's, we chat through what's really going on. |
| 0:15.3 | Make sense of what's happening in the US, with new podcast episodes arriving throughout the week. |
| 0:20.6 | America's, listen on BBC Sounds. This is the with new podcast episodes arriving throughout the week. America. |
| 0:21.4 | Listen on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:23.8 | This is the happy pod from the BBC World Service. |
| 0:32.6 | I'm Holly Gibbs and in this edition, a remarkable survival. |
| 0:38.5 | I didn't think I would be alive. I thought I would perish this way. As the oxygen ran out, |
| 0:44.0 | I couldn't walk. I didn't eat anything for the first two days. Then I began chewing ice. |
| 0:48.8 | The man who spent six days alone on Mount Everest. Also on this podcast, how one mother's poem to her son |
| 0:55.8 | ended up in his exam years later. The joy of winning your own tiny island. |
| 1:01.2 | I think it has taught me to just try things, even if they don't really seem promising at first, |
| 1:07.2 | to just do all the crazy stuff, you think doesn't really make sense. |
| 1:11.2 | And? |
| 1:11.8 | It's my favorite bird. |
| 1:13.3 | They were splotted quidso. |
| 1:15.0 | Woo-hoo! |
| 1:15.9 | Mm-hmm! |
| 1:18.1 | The boy who can mimic more than a hundred birds. |
| 1:25.7 | We start with the story of a climbing guide who miraculously survived alone on Mount Everest for six days with no equipment and almost no food. |
| 1:35.0 | Dawa Sherpa's family feared the worst when he didn't return with his group and started planning his funeral. |
... |
Transcript will be available on the free plan in 26 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.