Nirmal Purja: Record-setting mountaineer killed in Broad Peak avalanche

An avalanche swept Broad Peak’s normal route on the morning of 30 July 2026, killing ten climbers from four separate expeditions, according to Elite Exped and accounts carried by ExplorersWeb and Outside ExplorersWeb Outside. Among the dead were Nirmal Purja and his guide Nima Sherpa, Elite Exped confirmed, though the Alpine Club of Pakistan (ACP) said only seven bodies had been recovered by early August, while Desnivel reported that rescue officials had by then confirmed all ten deaths Gripped Desnivel.

What happened

The ten climbers, representing Elite Exped, Seven Summit Treks, Imagine Nepal and a Pakistani-led team called Moving Mountains, left Broad Peak Base Camp at roughly 16,000 feet (4,877 metres) on 28 July and climbed fixed ropes to Camp I at 18,500 feet (5,639 metres), Outside reported Outside. Their departure followed a week-long storm that brought heavy snowfall to the Karakoram from 22 to 26 July; guide Jenjen Lama said teams often skipped the usual five-day wait for snow to settle because weather windows were short. On 29 July the group advanced to Camp II at 20,500 feet (6,248 metres) along the standard route, which later crosses an exposed slope toward Camp III at 23,000 feet (7,010 metres). GPS data showed all four teams at Camp II by 5:33 a.m. on 30 July, moving steadily upward by 7:30 a.m., with Purja’s tracker recording 21,847 feet (6,659 metres) shortly before 9 a.m., the highest point he reached. Around 9 a.m., Jenjen Lama, climbing towards Camp II on neighbouring K2, said he watched a large avalanche sweep down Broad Peak and could not reach two of the climbers by radio. By afternoon, trackers showed sudden falls of more than 5,000 vertical feet for several climbers, including Nadhira Al Harthy, and all ten were out of contact.

The people involved

Purja, 43, was attempting to become the first person to complete all fourteen 8,000-metre peaks without supplemental oxygen for a second time, with only Cho Oyu, at 26,864 feet (8,188 metres), remaining after Broad Peak, Outside reported Outside. He was accompanied by Nima Sherpa, 36, and Pur Bahadur Gurung, known as “Yukta,” 37, a recently IFMGA-certified guide. Nadhira Al Harthy, 48, the first Omani woman to summit Everest in 2019, was pursuing her own 14-peaks project with guides Gyaljen “Gyalu” Sherpa and Nawang Thindu Sherpa, 28, described as the youngest climber on the mountain. The Imagine Nepal team, directed remotely by Mingma Gyalje Sherpa (“Mingma G”) from K2, included guide Kili Pemba Sherpa (“Kilu”), who had recently finished his own 14-peak project on Nanga Parbat, and Chinese climber Wang Zhong. The fourth team, climbing through Sohail Sakhi’s company Moving Mountains, paired the Pakistani guide with American client Sarah Mallory Geis, 39. Purja, born in Myagdi district, Nepal, in 1983, served sixteen years in the British Army’s Brigade of Gurkhas, including time in the Special Boat Service, before turning to mountaineering, Desnivel reported Desnivel. He completed the fourteen 8,000-metre peaks in just over six months in 2019, led the first winter ascent of K2 in 2021, and finished all fourteen without supplemental oxygen in October 2024. He co-founded Elite Exped in 2021 and the Nimsdai Foundation the same year, though his expeditions also drew criticism over reliance on oxygen, helicopters and heavy logistics, and he faced allegations of harassment reported by the New York Times in 2024, which he denied through legal representatives.

The response

Pakistani authorities and the ACP asked expedition companies not to confirm deaths until bodies were located and identified, a request Elite Exped did not follow when it announced the deaths of Purja and Nima Sherpa ExplorersWeb. Naila Kiani of the ACP told ExplorersWeb that a long-line helicopter recovery was not an option, as military helicopters did not currently perform that manoeuvre, though a special request might be made. On 31 July, two Pakistani Army helicopters searched the mountain, and joint Pakistani-Nepali rescuers recovered the bodies of Al Harthy and Gurung along with a detached leg later identified as Geis’s, Outside reported Outside. That afternoon, Mingma G’s team used borrowed drones to spot a cluster of five bodies at roughly 19,350 feet (5,898 metres), including Purja, identified by his teal down suit, and a further body on a cliff band above 19,600 feet (5,974 metres). A nine-person recovery team led by Mingma G and senior guide Shirbaz Khan established an advanced base camp on 1 August and recovered Purja, Nima Sherpa, Wang Zhong, Kilu Sherpa and Gyalu Sherpa the following morning. The ACP credited Pakistani climbers Sirbaz Khan, Abid Baig and Sherbaz, and Nepali climbers Dipen Gurung and Pemba Chhewang Sherpa with assisting, and thanked the Pakistan Army, the governments of Pakistan and Gilgit-Baltistan, local authorities, the British High Commission and the Embassy of Nepal Gripped. It described the recovery as “exceptionally challenging and technically demanding” and said the climbers’ remains had been transported to Broad Peak base camp. Sakhi’s backpack and tracker were found at the mountain’s base, suggesting the body on the cliff band was Nawang Thindu Sherpa, while Sakhi himself remained unaccounted for. Seven Summit Treks climbers Dawa Sherpa (“Speed”) and Pem Dorje Sherpa made two attempts, including one on 2 August, to reach Nawang Thindu’s body near 19,000 feet (5,791 metres), carrying 1,350 feet of rope but falling short; during the second attempt they heard another avalanche in the couloir above them. Pem Dorje Sherpa said the operation needed eight people but only two were available.

Background

Broad Peak, at 8,051 metres (26,414 feet) in Pakistan’s Karakoram range, sits close to K2, where several guides involved in the Broad Peak recovery were simultaneously working. American climber Napier Fuller, part of an earlier summit attempt on 18–19 July, had already described the route as dangerous because of heavy rockfall, saying his helmet was damaged after being struck in the head Outside. A week-long storm had brought heavy snowfall to the Karakoram region in the days before the climbers departed base camp. Purja’s broader career, including rescue efforts he took part in on Annapurna and Kangchenjunga in 2019 and his record-setting ascents, had placed him and his commercially supported climbing model under scrutiny even before this incident, Desnivel reported Desnivel.

What is not yet confirmed

It remains unclear whether all ten deaths have been formally confirmed, as the ACP’s seven recoveries and three missing contrast with Desnivel’s report that rescue officials had confirmed all ten Gripped Desnivel. The fates of Sohail Sakhi and Nawang Thindu Sherpa, both still listed as missing, have not been resolved Outside. Whether Pakistani authorities will approve a special long-line helicopter operation, as Kiani suggested might be requested, has not been reported ExplorersWeb. It is also not confirmed whether further recovery attempts for the remaining climbers will proceed, given the renewed avalanche activity encountered during the second rescue attempt.

Sources referenced

• EliteExped Confirms Nirmal Purja Dead on Broad Peak — ExplorersWeb
• Body of Famed Mountaineer Recovered from Broad Peak — Gripped
• Fallece Nirmal “Nims” Purja, el hombre que convirtió lo imposible en rutina — Desnivel
• What Really Happened on Broad Peak, the Deadliest High-Alpine Avalanche in More than a Decade — Outside

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

Coverage timeline

• Nirmal Purja: Record-setting mountaineer killed in Broad Peak avalanche — The Standard (HK), 4 Aug 2026, 10:46 UTC
• 4 Mountaineers Killed, 6 Missing After Avalanche Strikes Peak In PoK — NDTV, 1 Aug 2026, 07:00 UTC
• Veteran Nepalese mountaineer Nirmal Purja killed in Broad Peak avalanche — Daily Pioneer, 1 Aug 2026, 07:00 UTC

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 09:00 UTC.