Conquering canine: Stray dog tags along and makes it to the top of a Himalayan summit

Mera a stray dog that followed American mountain climber Don Wargowsky to the summit of Mt Baruntse in Nepal. Photo / Don Wargowsky, Facebook

A stray dog befriended a mountaineering expedition and followed them to the top of a 23,389ft (7128m) Himalayan peak in what may be a canine first.

The dog named Mera reached the top of Baruntse in Nepal without any assistance and was still able to run once she had reached the summit.

Sherpas accompanying the expedition said they had never seen such a feat and an organisation that documents expeditions said the climb may be the highest recorded for a dog, according to the outdoors magazine Outside.

"I am not aware of a dog actually summitting an expedition peak in Nepal," said Billi Bierling of the Himalayan Database. "I just hope that she won't get into trouble for having climbed Baruntse without a permit."

Dogs have been known to hang out at Everest Base Camp with a height of 17,600ft and follow climbers up to Camp II (21,300ft), but Mera's climb in November may be the highest recorded, Bierling told the magazine.

The 20kg stray is thought to be a cross between a Tibetan mastiff and a Himalayan sheepdog.

She bounded up to climbers from the Kathmandu-based Summit Club when they were already at a height of 17,000ft and latched on to Don Wargowsky of Seattle.

He said the expedition Sherpas at first only tolerated the dog, but then began to appreciate her climbing ability.

"They'd never seen anything like this happen. They said she was a special dog, that she brought luck to the expedition," Wargowsky said. "Some even thought she was blessed."

At one point Mera spent two nights sleeping out exposed on a glacier leading Wargowsky to fear she would die of cold. But she seemed unharmed and later shared his tent and ate his food.

I love this incredibly good dog who climbed 23,389 feet into the Nepalese mountains just to stick with some human friends & be an incredibly good dog https://t.co/MbSOrPlg3l

— Jia Tolentino (@jiatolentino) March 6, 2019

On the day of the final ascent, he said she seemed unconcerned by the altitude or precipices on either side and bounded ahead of the group.

"I have no clue if she'd been up there before, but she seemed very confident in what she was doing," he said.

She ran ahead of him on the final ridge approaching the summit and waited for him panting with her tongue out, he said.

"I'd never been on top of something like that with a dog. She was leaning up against me and wanting to be petted. It was pretty surreal."

Mera now lives with the expedition's base camp manager, Kaji Sherpa, he said.