On May 15, 2006, Chaya, exhausted after his successful summit bid, saw his triumph turn to tragedy as he encountered a dying climber on his way back from the summit of Everest. The name of the distressed climber was David Sharp. Chaya and his Tibetan Sherpa Dorjee, tried their best to help. They spent more than an hour next to the stricken climber, whom they did not know, desperately trying to revive him. Unfortunately, Sharp was unconscious and frozen from the knees down. He did not respond to the oxygen administered. Chaya later reported that although very sad of the man's fate, he was confident that nothing more could have been done for him at that stage. He was much closer to death than he was to life.