KATHMANDU — A Nepali climbing guide who went missing on Mount Everest for six days and was believed dead has been found alive after crawling alone almost to Base Camp, officials told AFP today.

His wife had even begun to offer last rite prayers for his soul, she told AFP at the hospital in the capital Kathmandu, where he is recovering from “some frostbite” but is conscious.

Mountaineer Dawa Sherpa — who is in his 50s, and is better known as “Hillary” after famed climber Edmund Hillary due to his experience — vanished on the upper reaches of the world’s highest mountain in bitter conditions, early on May 30.

He was found this morning close to Base Camp by the Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee (SPCC), a Nepali team that helps set routes on Everest and clean up waste left behind.

“He was found by a team of SPCC this morning close to the base camp — he was crawling down,” Pemba Sherpa of 8K Expeditions, which was overseeing search and rescue efforts, told AFP.

A helicopter flew him to Kathmandu, where an AFP team saw him carried out on a stretcher.

“I spoke to the doctors — he has some frostbite, but otherwise seems okay,” Pemba Sherpa added.

His wife Damu Sherpa said her family was overjoyed.

“We were very happy to hear the news, we had given up hope,” she said. “We also began puja (death prayers) yesterday.”