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Karakoram Dispatch

Famed Nepalese climber Nirmal Purja found dead after Pakistan Broad Peak avalanche

Andoram Desk3 September 2026 · 00:45 UTC · 3 sources
Famed Nepalese climber Nirmal Purja found dead after Pakistan Broad Peak avalanche
Photograph: Antoinepara via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

An avalanche struck a group of ten climbers on Broad Peak (8,051m/26,414ft), in Pakistan’s Karakoram range, on Thursday, 30 July, as they moved up the mountain’s West Ridge route toward the summit. By early August, five of the ten had been confirmed dead, including Nepali mountaineer Nirmal “Nims” Purja, while recovery efforts for the remaining climbers continued in difficult high-altitude conditions.

What happened

The avalanche hit Broad Peak, the world’s 12th-highest mountain, known locally as Falchan Kangri – “broad peak” in the Balti language – in the Gilgit-Baltistan region Climbing. News of the incident first emerged via Everest Chronicle before being confirmed by the Alpine Club of Pakistan (ACP) and by Mingma David Sherpa, co-founder of Elite Exped Alpinist Magazine Desnivel. Accounts of the timing diverge: ExplorersWeb reported around 9:20am on Thursday, Alpinist and Climbing put it shortly before noon or between roughly 9am and 9:30am, Desnivel said 9:30am local time, and the ACP’s own press release described it as occurring “around midday” ExplorersWeb.

Location estimates also vary. GPS data examined by Climbing showed the slide happened between 8:57am and 9:30am at about 6,579 metres (21,580ft), between Camp II and Camp III Climbing. ExplorersWeb put the strike zone between Camp 2 and Camp 3 at around 6,660 metres, and Desnivel gave a figure of about 6,600 metres ExplorersWeb Desnivel. ExplorersWeb further reported that some accounts suggested two avalanches struck rather than a single slide. Tracker data for several missing climbers showed them halting their ascent around 9:30am before falling several hundred metres and coming to rest above 7,800 metres Alpinist Magazine. Mallory Geis’s device recorded a descent of 543 metres (1,784ft), while Nadhira Al Harthy’s showed a fall of 1,651 metres (5,417ft). Elite Exped reported that Purja’s own track appeared to continue showing movement for some time afterward. Pakistani mountaineer Samson Sharaf, mentor to climber Sohail Sakhi, said the overhanging snow above the route had been clearly visible beforehand, and that the entire laden face likely moved at once, sweeping the traverse.

The people involved

Four teams were on the mountain: Sohail Sakhi was guiding client Mallory Geis; Purja was leading the Elite Exped team; an Imagine Nepal group was climbing without leader Mingma G, who was on K2; and a Seven Summit Treks party was also present ExplorersWeb. Imagine Nepal said its climbers had reached Camp 2 on Wednesday, planning Camp 3 on Thursday and a summit push on Friday. The ten named climbers were Purja, Sakhi, Geis, Al Harthy, Wang Zhong of China, and Nepali guides Pur Bahadur “Yukta” Gurung, Nima Sherpa, Gyalu Sherpa, Nawang Thendu Sherpa and Kili Pemba “Kilu” Sherpa Climbing Desnivel.

Purja, accompanied by guides Gurung and Nima Sherpa, had added Broad Peak to his itinerary shortly before travelling to Pakistan; Elite Exped said his main purpose for the trip was continuing his “Hat-Trick Project” for the Nimsdai Foundation Climbing. He had posted that the peak was a last-minute addition to a plan originally limited to Gasherbrum II, after realising a summit would put him on course to become, by his own description, the first person to complete all 14 eight-thousanders twice without supplemental oxygen, with only Cho Oyu (8,188m/26,864ft) left to climb ExplorersWeb. He had finished the 14 Peaks Challenge without supplemental oxygen on 4 October 2024, after two years and 150 days, having earlier completed the challenge with some supplemental oxygen in six months five years before. Across his career he reportedly summited 8,000-metre peaks 57 times, including 29 without supplemental oxygen, more than anyone in history according to the reported tally, and had topped Gasherbrum II on 4 July 2025 in what he called his 57th such summit. He had taken part in the first winter ascent of K2 in January 2021 and co-founded Elite Exped and the Nimsdai Foundation. Following the Netflix documentary “14 Peaks: Nothing Is Impossible,” two women accused him of sexual assault in a 2024 New York Times feature; a 2025 podcast series by Poppy Damon later questioned some of those allegations.

Sakhi, from Hunza, held a master’s degree in mathematics from Quaid-e-Azam University, Islamabad, and worked as a high-altitude guide, photographer and drone pilot, having summited Nanga Parbat, K2, Gasherbrum I and Gasherbrum II Climbing. He had spoken publicly about pay inequity facing Pakistani guides. Geis, 39, of San Antonio, Texas, ran a pilates studio and worked as a travel photographer; Broad Peak was her first 8,000-metre attempt, after summits of Lobuche East and Mera Peak. Al Harthy was the first Omani woman to summit Everest, on 23 May 2019; Climbing reported she had also climbed Ama Dablam and Manaslu, while Desnivel instead credited her as the first Omani to summit K2 in 2022 and Nanga Parbat in 2024 Desnivel. Wang Zhong, confirmed by Nepal’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs on 31 July, had summited 11 eight-thousanders; Broad Peak would have been his 13th, leaving Shishapangma as his last. Gurung, an IMFGA-certified guide from Luprak, had climbed 8,000-metre peaks 28 times, including ten Everest summits and two of K2. Kili Pemba “Kilu” Sherpa, a lead guide for Imagine Nepal, had summited all 14 eight-thousanders, completing the set on Nanga Parbat on 3 July 2025, and had reached Everest’s summit 15 times.

The response

Naila Kiani of the ACP told ExplorersWeb that rescuers only learned of the avalanche at 10pm that night, nearly 13 hours after it struck, despite each team having staff at Base Camp, saying “we are all shocked” ExplorersWeb. The ACP’s press release named president Major General Irfan Arshad as coordinating with government authorities to mobilise search and rescue, subject to weather and operational conditions. Two helicopters were scheduled to fly to the mountain on Friday carrying rescuers and oxygen. Desnivel reported that strong winds had been blowing since the avalanche, complicating operations at altitude Desnivel.

A 31 July press release from the Commissioner of Baltistan stated that rescuers had recovered the bodies of Gurung, Al Harthy and Geis Climbing. Desnivel, citing Karakorum Expeditions, reported four bodies recovered at the base of the avalanche, naming Al Harthy and Gurung among them Desnivel. Climbing later reported that four further bodies had been brought down to Camp 1 (5,600m/18,368ft): those of Purja, Wang Zhong, Nima Sherpa and Kili Pemba Sherpa. One body was spotted at a significantly higher point but recovery was not attempted owing to the risk, and an amputated leg, presumed to belong to one of the unrecovered climbers, was also found. On 1 August, Elite Exped confirmed via Instagram the deaths of Purja and Nima Sherpa, asking that families’ privacy be respected, and stated it had received confirmation that other expedition members had not survived — a claim that prompted ACP president Irfan Arshad Khan to publicly ask the company to stop circulating such information until rescuers had physically reached the climbers. The Juniper Fund launched a fundraiser for the families of the six Nepali and Pakistani guides lost, alongside separate appeals for Sakhi’s family, Gurung’s family and Kilu Sherpa’s wife.

Background

Broad Peak rises in the Karakoram range of Pakistan’s Gilgit-Baltistan region, at coordinates 35.8106, 76.5681, with a height given as 8,051 metres (26,414ft) in most reporting, though some sources cite 8,047 metres ExplorersWeb Alpinist Magazine Climbing Desnivel. It is described as the world’s 12th-highest mountain, and its standard route follows the West Ridge, the line the affected climbers were following.

What is not yet confirmed

Whether a single avalanche or two separate slides struck the slope remains unsettled, as ExplorersWeb raised the possibility of two events ExplorersWeb. The precise time of the avalanche is also unresolved, with estimates spanning from shortly after 9am to around midday Alpinist Magazine Climbing Desnivel, and the altitude at which it struck is given variously as roughly 6,579, 6,600 or 6,660 metres. The final status of Sakhi, Gyalu Sherpa and Nawang Thendu Sherpa was not confirmed in the supplied reporting, nor was it clear whether the bodies of Wang Zhong and Kili Pemba Sherpa, reported as recovered and moved to Camp 1, had received formal confirmation of death beyond Elite Exped’s announcement naming only Purja and Nima Sherpa. The spelling of Pur Bahadur Gurung’s nickname also varies between “Yukta” and “Yurta” across outlets, and it remains unclear whether this reflects a transcription error or a genuine discrepancy.

Sources referenced

Written by Andoram by combining 4 independently published reports, each linked above. We synthesise facts and reproduce no source text.

Coverage timeline

This page is an automatically compiled index of third-party reporting. Headlines and links belong to their publishers; Andoram reproduces no article text. Last compiled 3 Sep 2026 00:45 UTC.

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