Omani, Nepali climbers dead after avalanche strikes Pakistan’s Broad Peak

An avalanche struck a group of ten climbers on Broad Peak in Pakistan’s Karakoram range on Thursday 30 July, killing several members of a team led by Nepali climber Nirmal “Nims” Purja. Climbing reported five confirmed deaths — Purja, Nima Sherpa, Pur Bahadur “Yukta” Gurung, Nadhira Al Harthy and Mallory Geis — while Elite Exped said it had received confirmation that other members of the group had also not survived.

What happened

The avalanche struck climbers on Broad Peak, described across the coverage as the world’s 12th-highest mountain, located in Pakistan’s Karakoram range ExplorersWeb Alpinist Magazine Desnivel. ExplorersWeb, Alpinist and Desnivel give the peak’s height as 8,047 metres, while Climbing and Andoram’s own reference figures put it at 8,051 metres (26,414 feet); the mountain is known locally as Falchan Kangri, meaning “broad peak” in the Balti language Climbing. The slide hit the group of ten as they climbed the standard West Ridge route between Camp 2 and Camp 3. Sources differ on where and when it occurred: ExplorersWeb placed it at about 6,660 metres around 9:20am local time; Climbing, citing GPS tracks, gave roughly 6,579 metres (21,580 feet) between 8:57am and 9:30am; Desnivel gave about 6,600 metres at 9:30am; and Alpinist described the timing only as “shortly before noon local time”.

News of the avalanche was first reported by Everest Chronicle before being confirmed by the Alpine Club of Pakistan and Mingma David Sherpa, co-founder of Elite Exped Alpinist Magazine Desnivel. GPS trackers showed climbers halting their ascent around 9:30am Pakistan time before falling hundreds of metres; Mallory Geis’s tracker recorded a sudden drop of 543 metres (1,784 feet), while Nadhira Al Harthy’s showed a descent of 1,651 metres (5,417 feet) ExplorersWeb Climbing. Several trackers went stationary above 7,800 metres afterwards, though Elite Exped said Purja’s tracker appeared to keep registering movement for a time.

The people involved

Four expedition teams were on the mountain: guide Sohail Sakhi with client Mallory Geis; Purja’s Elite Exped team; an Imagine Nepal team, whose leader Mingma G was on K2 at the time; and a Seven Summit Treks group ExplorersWeb. The ten caught in the slide were named as Purja, Sakhi, Geis, Omani climber Nadhira Al Harthy, Chinese climber Wang Zhong, and Nepali climbers Pur Bahadur “Yukta” Gurung, Nima Sherpa, Gyalu Sherpa, Nawang Thendu Sherpa and Kili Pemba Sherpa Climbing Desnivel. The Alpine Club of Pakistan’s own release described the group differently, as five Nepalese climbers led by “Nims Dai,” one Pakistani climber from Hunza, one Omani, one American and one Chinese climber, plus one other foreign national. The American client’s name was rendered inconsistently: ExplorersWeb used “Mallory Geiss” in one instance and “Mallory Weis” in another, while other outlets used “Mallory Geis”.

Purja was on Broad Peak to continue what Elite Exped called his “Hat-Trick Project” for the Nimsdai Foundation, having decided to add the climb shortly before travelling to Pakistan ExplorersWeb Climbing. He wrote on social media that his plan had been to climb only Gasherbrum II, but on reviewing his summit tally he realised Broad Peak would leave only Cho Oyu (8,188m/26,864ft) remaining toward becoming the first person to climb all 14 eight-thousanders twice without supplemental oxygen. He was climbing with guides Yukta Gurung and Nima Sherpa, during what was described as the final weather window of the season.

Other climbers carried established records of their own. Sohail Sakhi, from the Hunza Valley, trained as a mathematician at Quaid-e-Azam University and worked as a guide, mountain photographer and drone pilot; in 2025 he summited Nanga Parbat without supplemental oxygen, having earlier climbed K2, Gasherbrum I and Gasherbrum II Climbing. He had told ExplorersWeb the previous summer that Pakistani guides had been “left behind” as Western and Nepali guides took Karakoram guiding work, citing pay inequity. Mallory Geis, 39, of San Antonio, Texas, worked as a travel photographer and pilates studio owner; Broad Peak was her first attempt on an 8,000-metre peak, after earlier summits of Lobuche East (6,119m) and Mera Peak (6,476m). Nadhira Al Harthy became the first Omani woman to summit Everest, on 23 May 2019, and was also reported as the first Omani woman to climb K2, in 2022, and the first Omani to climb Nanga Parbat, in 2024, alongside Manaslu and Ama Dablam Desnivel. Wang Zhong had summited Gasherbrum II alongside Purja on 4 July, his 11th 8,000-metre peak; Broad Peak would have been his 13th, with Shishapangma (8,027m) remaining.

Among the Nepali guides, Pur Bahadur “Yukta” Gurung, an IMFGA-certified guide from Luprak, had worked for Elite Exped since 2022 and had climbed 8,000-metre peaks 28 times, including ten Everest summits and two K2 ascents Climbing. Kili Pemba “Kilu” Sherpa, a lead guide for Imagine Nepal, had completed all 14 8,000-metre peaks, finishing with Nanga Parbat on 3 July, had taken part in the 2021 winter ascent of K2, and had summited Everest 15 times. Nawang Thendu Sherpa, a guide for Seven Summit Treks from Sankhuwasabha, had summited six 8,000-metre peaks by his mid-twenties, including Everest, Lhotse, Manaslu, Kanchenjunga, Makalu and Ama Dablam.

The response

Naila Kiani of the Alpine Club of Pakistan told ExplorersWeb that the club only learned of the avalanche at 10pm Thursday, nearly 13 hours after it struck, a delay that meant the day was lost for a possible helicopter rescue before dark ExplorersWeb. Two helicopters were scheduled to fly to Broad Peak on Friday carrying rescuers and oxygen. Recovery work was hampered by high altitude and strong winds blowing since the day of the slide, according to Desnivel Desnivel. A 31 July press release from the Commissioner of Baltistan said rescuers had recovered three bodies — Yukta Gurung, Al Harthy and Geis — while other climbers had been spotted by drone but not identified Climbing. Karakorum Expeditions, as reported by Desnivel, said four bodies had been found at the base of the avalanche, with two identified as Al Harthy and Gurung. The Alpine Club later reported four further bodies brought down to Camp 1 (5,600m/18,368ft): Purja, Wang Zhong, Nima Sherpa and Kili Pemba Sherpa. One body was spotted higher on the mountain, with recovery not attempted owing to high risk, and an amputated leg presumed to belong to one of the unrecovered climbers was also found.

Elite Exped confirmed the deaths of Purja and Nima Sherpa on 1 August via Instagram and said it had received confirmation that other members had also not survived Climbing. Alpine Club President Irfan Arshad Khan publicly asked Elite Exped to stop releasing such information until rescuers had physically reached the climbers ExplorersWeb. Search and rescue operations were set to resume on 1 August once poor weather subsided. Samson Sharaf, a Pakistani mountaineer and Sakhi’s mentor, shared screenshots with Climbing describing evidence of an overhang collapse that likely swept the entire traverse. Elite Exped issued a statement calling the day “unimaginably difficult,” expressing devastation and thanking the rescue teams involved.

Background

Purja held the speed record for completing the 14 Peaks Challenge without supplemental oxygen, finishing on 4 October 2024 after two years and 150 days, having earlier completed the challenge using some supplemental oxygen in six months, a feat documented in the Netflix film “14 Peaks: Nothing Is Impossible” Climbing. In January 2021, he and nine other Nepali climbers achieved the first winter ascent of K2. He summited 8,000-metre peaks 57 times over his life, including 29 without supplemental oxygen, and fewer than a week before the avalanche he had posted on Instagram about summiting Gasherbrum II again, calling it his 57th summit and reflecting that mountains do not owe climbers anything. He co-founded Elite Exped and founded the Nimsdai Foundation, which runs educational and environmental programmes in Nepal. Following a 2024 Netflix documentary, two women accused Purja of sexual assault in a New York Times feature that year; a 2025 podcast series by reporter Poppy Damon later questioned some aspects of those allegations. Fundraisers were launched for several families, including one by Chris Lininger for Sakhi’s mother and brother, one by Little Monsters Films for Yukta Gurung’s wife and son, one for Kilu Sherpa’s wife, Tashi Lhamu Sherpa, and one by the Juniper Fund for the families of the six Nepali and Pakistani guides lost in the avalanche.

What is not yet confirmed

The exact altitude and timing of the avalanche remain inconsistent across the reporting, ranging from about 6,579 metres (21,580 feet) to roughly 6,660 metres, and from shortly before 9am to “shortly before noon” local time ExplorersWeb Alpinist Magazine Climbing Desnivel. Broad Peak’s elevation itself is also given differently, as either 8,047 metres or 8,051 metres (26,414 feet), depending on the source. The fate of all ten climbers has not been uniformly confirmed: Climbing reported five deaths, while Elite Exped said it had received confirmation that other members had also not survived without naming them. The identity of the climber whose body was spotted at a higher point on the mountain, and that of the climber to whom the recovered amputated leg belonged, had not been established. The correct spelling of Mallory Geis’s surname also varied between reports.

Sources referenced

• Updated: Ten Missing, Including Nirmal Purja, After Avalanche on Broad Peak — ExplorersWeb
• AVALANCHE: TEN CLIMBERS, INCLUDING NIRMAL PURJA, MISSING ON BROAD PEAK — Alpinist Magazine
• Who Were the 10 Climbers Caught in the Broad Peak Avalanche? — Climbing
• Avalancha en el Broad Peak: cuatro personas fallecidas y seis desaparecidas, entre ellas Nirmal Purja — Desnivel

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

Coverage timeline

• Search resumes for missing climbers after avalanche on Pakistan's Broad Peak — The Independent, 1 Aug 2026, 07:00 UTC
• Omani, Nepali climbers dead after avalanche strikes Pakistan's Broad Peak — Khaleej Times, 31 Jul 2026, 07:00 UTC
• Omani climber Nadhira Al Harthy dies after avalanche hits Pakistan's Broad Peak — thenationalnews.com, 31 Jul 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 2 Sep 2026 22:45 UTC.