An Ontario woman was honoured for her bravery in Nepal on Monday after she rescued a dying climber near the summit of Mount Everest.

Meagan McGrath, 29, was recognized as a hero by the president of the Nepal Mountaineering Association, Ang Tshering, in KatHmandu.

"I saved her life, but she was also dying in my hands, too," said McGrath, an aerospace engineer with the Canadian Forces.

"It was a very tenuous situation where I didn't have everything I needed to help her."

The Sudbury, Ont. native was near the top of the world's highest mountain on May 21 when she discovered severely ill Nepalese climber Usha Bista.

Bista was suffering from high altitude cerebral edema, a potentially fatal condition that causes swelling in the brain.

The condition causes climbers to hallucinate and become disoriented. If suffering from altitude cerebral edema, climbers are urged to descend to a lower altitude immediately and seek medical attention.

"Even the Sherpa guide I hired left me in an unconscious state," the woman claimed.

McGrath said she was nervous she would not be able to save Bista's life. Along with another Westerner, she alerted climbers below at the South Col camp, which sits at approximately 8,000 metres, of the emergency.

The climbers at the site called doctors for advice on how to treat Bisa's condition.

"I am glad I was the one person who started the chain I suppose, but I am glad someone jumped in," she said.

The sick climber was then wrapped in a sleeping bag and tied to a sled in order to get her out of the "death zone."

"As we brought her down she was deteriorating," she said. "She started to become less conscious to the point of mumbling."

The "death zone" is a particularly treacherous segment of Mount Everest that is known for its high winds, thin air and icy terrain.

Bista thanked her rescuers for saying they were like gods to her.

"I am indebted to these people for life. I can't believe the love and concern they showed to rescue me in spite of such a difficult situation," Bista told The Associated Press during an interview on Sunday.

McGrath has remained humble about saving Bista, hardly even mentioning it to her own family.

"She just never bothered to tell us that she was going to be fetted as a heroine, but that's Megan," her mother, Deborah McGrath, told CTV News.

Bista has recovered from her treacherous ordeal but is still suffering from frostbite on her hands and feet.

McGrath, who now lives in Ottawa, had been preparing for her Everest climb for years in an effort to become the first member of the Canadian Forces to climb the highest summits on each of the seven continents.

She obtained her goal on May 20 when she reached the top of Everest.

McGrath is also the youngest Canadian on record to climb all seven peaks. The six other summits she has reached are:

• Australia's Mount Kosciuszko (2,228 m) in 2006
• Antarctica's Vinson Massif (4,897 m) in 2004
• Alaska's McKinley (6,194 m) in 2003.
• Elbrus (5,642 m) on the Russia/Georgia border in 2003
• Tanzania's Kilimanjaro (5,963 m) in 2002
• Argentina's Aconcagua (6,962 m) in 2002.

With a report from CTV's Sarah Galashan and files from The Associated Press