Long before it lost all meaning by overuse in yoga and wellness circles, 'namaste' was the most beautiful word one young Australian had ever heard.
It was also the first word spoken to him after 43 days lost in the frozen Himalayas, without food and sometimes even bereft of hope.
It was February 2, 1992 and James Scott, an adventurous 23-year-old medical student from Queensland, had been missing for six weeks.
James Scott (pictured), 30 years after being rescued from the Himalayas after being lost for six weeks
'I was pretty fit and lost about 25kg – my body just ate itself – but I had abundant fresh water through snow, a strong faith and the determination not to let my loved ones grieve,' he told the Sunday Mail.
'I survived by maintaining a sense of perspective, knowing there was always someone worse off than I was – like the Australian soldiers in prison camps in World War II and the patients I'd seen in the burns ward during my medical training.'
His family has been warned by the Department of Foreign Affairs not to travel to Nepal, to let local authorities handle it.
But in early January his older sister, veterinarian Joanne Robertson, did go to Nepal, thinking 'no one will care as much as a family member'. Her brother's best friend, Andrew Ross, went with her.
They raised $70,000 - from family, friends and strangers - for a rescue mission.
'Dead or alive, James had to be somewhere; the only thing worse than finding a body was to find nothing,' she said.
The front cover of the book (pictured) written by James Scott and his sister Joanne Robertson about his dramatic rescue in the Himalayas in Nepal
A month and a half into his ordeal the Ice Man, as he became known, had almost lost all hope.
'In those very last 72 hours, hope escaped me and I had really suicidal intent, but then I had a vivid dream of being home with my family and when I woke it reminded me of how much I had to live for,' he said.
