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The world's most celebrated high-altitude climber and nine teammates were killed when an avalanche swept them off Pakistan's Broad Peak on Thursday.
Renowned British-Nepali mountaineer Nirmal Purja and nine other climbers died Thursday when an avalanche struck their expedition on Broad Peak, the 8,047-meter peak in Pakistan's Karakoram range, his company Elite Expeditions confirmed Saturday.
"It is with profound sadness and immense heartbreak that we confirm that Nirmal 'Nimsdai' Purja tragically lost his life following the avalanche on Broad Peak," Elite Expeditions said in a statement, adding that other members of the expedition "sadly did not survive."
The avalanche hit the 10-person team at about 6,600 meters between camps two and three on the west ridge, according to regional authorities. Tracking devices showed the climbers were thrown hundreds of meters down the mountainside. Rescuers recovered four bodies — American Mallory Geis, 39, of San Antonio, Texas; Omani climber Nadhira Alharthy, the first woman from her country to summit Everest; and Nepalis Pur Bahadur Gurung and Nima Sherpa — with a drone spotting additional remains. A local tourism minister said no survivors are expected given the avalanche's intensity.
Purja, 43, was attempting to become the first person to climb all 14 of the world's peaks above 8,000 meters twice without supplementary oxygen. His 2019 feat of scaling all 14 in six months and six days — a record at the time and the subject of the Netflix documentary "14 Peaks" — made him one of the most recognizable figures in mountaineering and a draw for the expedition-tourism industry that anchors Pakistan's northern Gilgit-Baltistan economy.
Born in Nepal, Purja joined the British Army's Gurkha regiment and served 16 years, a decade of it in the Special Boat Service, before turning to mountaineering full time. He was awarded an MBE in 2018. In 2021 he led the first team to summit K2, the world's second-highest mountain, in winter.
His reputation extended beyond speed records. Twice he risked his own life to help others — leading a rescue of a fellow climber on Annapurna and, less than a month later, giving up his team's supplementary oxygen to save two climbers stranded at 8,400 meters. "You can't call yourself a climber and not help in that situation," he told the Guardian in 2019.
The expedition comprised five Nepalis, a Pakistani, an Omani, an American and a Chinese national. Geis, a travel photographer who closed her Pilates studio to pursue high-altitude climbing, was making her first attempt on an 8,000-meter peak alongside her Pakistani teammate, according to Moving Mountains, an expedition company in Pakistan.
Military helicopters and high-altitude porters scoured the mountain through the weekend despite difficult weather, with teams staying overnight at base camp. Nepal's Prime Minister Balendra Shah offered condolences, saying the deaths "has shocked us," while the Prince of Wales said Purja "served with distinction" before "becoming one of the world's greatest mountaineers." Adventurer Bear Grylls called the news "heartbreaking for so many climbers around the world."
The tragedy is the deadliest single incident on an 8,000-meter peak in Pakistan in years and is likely to sharpen scrutiny of high-altitude expedition safety just as the Karakoram climbing season peaks. Broad Peak, the world's 12th-highest mountain, is regarded as one of the most technical of the 8,000-meter ascents, and the loss of a guide of Purja's stature — who had worked with clients in the region since 2023 — removes a central figure from the commercial expedition circuit that draws hundreds of paying climbers to Gilgit-Baltistan each summer.
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