World record-holding mountaineer Nirmal Purja dies in Broad Peak avalanche
An avalanche struck Broad Peak (8,047m), the world’s 12th-highest mountain, in Pakistan’s Karakoram range on Thursday, July 30, 2026, hitting a group of 10 climbers on the mountain’s normal West Ridge route. Among those caught were Nepali climber Nirmal “Nims” Purja and five of his colleagues, a Pakistani guide and his American client, an Omani mountaineer, and a Chinese climber; by August 1 at least five deaths had been confirmed, with rescue teams still working to reach others reported higher on the mountain ExplorersWeb Alpinist Magazine Climbing Desnivel.
What happened
Accounts of the exact timing diverge. The Alpine Club of Pakistan (ACP) said the avalanche struck “around midday,” and Alpinist Magazine reported it hit “shortly before noon local time” ExplorersWeb Alpinist Magazine. ExplorersWeb, however, put the event at around 9:20am and noted that some sources described two separate avalanches, while Climbing cited GPS tracks placing the slide between 8:57am and 9:30am, and Desnivel gave a trigger time of 9:30am Climbing Desnivel. The location is similarly reported with variation: ExplorersWeb placed the avalanche at roughly 6,660 metres between Camp 2 and Camp 3, Climbing specified 6,579 metres (21,580ft) between Camp II and Camp III, and Desnivel gave an approximate figure of 6,600 metres. GPS trackers showed the climbers had stopped ascending around 9:30am Pakistan time before falling several hundred metres, according to ExplorersWeb, while Alpinist reported that several trackers went stationary above 7,800 metres after the slide. Individual tracks told a stark story: Mallory Geis’s device recorded a sudden drop of 543 metres (1,784ft), and Nadhira Al Harthy’s showed a fall of 1,651 metres (5,417ft), according to Climbing, while Desnivel reported that Elite Exped said Purja’s track appeared to keep registering movement for some time afterward. Pakistani mountaineer Samson Sharaf, a mentor to guide Sohail Sakhi, told Climbing that the overhang where the accident occurred was clearly visible beforehand and that the entire snow-laden face likely moved, sweeping across the traverse. The news was first reported by Everest Chronicle before being confirmed by the ACP and by Mingma David Sherpa, co-founder of Elite Exped.
The people involved
The 10 climbers named across the reporting were Nirmal Purja, Sohail Sakhi, Mallory Geis, Nadhira Al Harthy, Wang Zhong, Pur Bahadur “Yukta” Gurung, Nima Sherpa, Gyalu Sherpa, Nawang Thendu (also rendered Thindu) Sherpa, and Kili Pemba “Kilu” Sherpa ExplorersWeb Climbing Desnivel. Spellings varied between outlets: the ACP’s initial release rendered the Omani climber’s name as “Nathira” rather than “Nadhira,” referred to the Chinese climber only as “Mr. Wang” before he was identified as Wang Zhong, and ExplorersWeb’s text alternately called the American client “Mallory Geiss” and “Mallory Weis” where other outlets used “Mallory Geis”. Purja led both the Elite Exped team and the wider 10-person expedition, which the ACP described as comprising five Nepalese climbers under his leadership, one Pakistani climber (Sakhi, from Hunza), one Omani mountaineer, one American, one Chinese climber and one other foreign climber. ExplorersWeb reported that four separate expedition teams were on Broad Peak at the time: Sakhi with client Geis, Purja’s Elite Exped group, an Imagine Nepal team operating without leader Mingma G, who was on K2, and a Seven Summit Treks group. According to Imagine Nepal, the climbers had reached Camp 2 on July 29, intended to reach Camp 3 on July 30, and planned to summit on July 31.
The response
The ACP said it remained in constant contact with government authorities and relevant agencies to coordinate search and rescue, including mobilising helicopters subject to weather ExplorersWeb. Naila Kiani of the ACP told ExplorersWeb that the club only learned of the avalanche at 10pm that night, nearly 13 hours after it occurred, saying “we are all shocked”. Two helicopters carrying rescuers and oxygen were scheduled to fly to Broad Peak on July 31. Karakorum Expeditions reported that morning that four bodies had been recovered at the base of the avalanche, two of them identified as Al Harthy and Gurung, according to Desnivel Desnivel. A separate press release from the Commissioner of Baltistan stated that three bodies—Gurung, Al Harthy and Geis—had been recovered, and that rescuers had spotted several other climbers by drone without being able to identify them or confirm their condition Climbing. Strong winds and poor weather, blowing since July 30, delayed further operations until August 1, according to Climbing and Desnivel. A subsequent ACP update reported four more bodies recovered and brought down to Camp 1 (5,600m/18,368ft): Purja, Wang Zhong, Nima Sherpa and Kili Pemba Sherpa, with one additional body spotted at a higher location but not recovered owing to high risk. Climbing listed Sakhi, Geis, Nima Sherpa, Nawang Thindu Sherpa and Gyalu Sherpa as still unaccounted for at that stage, though this overlaps with Geis’s recovery reported separately by the Baltistan Commissioner—an inconsistency the reporting does not resolve. An amputated leg, presumed to belong to one of the remaining climbers, was also recovered. On August 1, Elite Exped confirmed via Instagram the deaths of Purja and Nima Sherpa, asking for privacy for the families; Climbing reported these as the fourth and fifth confirmed deaths, following Gurung, Al Harthy and Geis, and noted Elite Exped’s statement that other expedition members had also not survived. ACP President Irfan Arshad Khan publicly asked Elite Exped to stop releasing such information until rescuers had physically reached the climbers. Fundraising efforts followed: the Juniper Fund for the families of six Nepali and Pakistani guides, Little Monsters Films for Gurung’s wife and son, and a campaign by Sakhi’s friend Chris Lininger for his mother and brother.
Background and context
Broad Peak sits in the Gilgit-Baltistan region of Pakistan and is known locally as Falchan Kangri, meaning “broad peak” in Balti Climbing. Its elevation is given as 8,047 metres by the ACP and Desnivel, and as 8,051 metres (26,414ft) by Climbing ExplorersWeb Desnivel. Purja, according to Climbing, had summited 8,000-metre peaks 57 times, including 29 without supplemental oxygen, and held the speed record for completing all 14 eight-thousanders without oxygen, finished on October 4, 2024, after two years and 150 days, having earlier completed the challenge with some oxygen in six months five years before. A Broad Peak summit would have been his 13th toward a second unsupported round of all 14 peaks, leaving only Cho Oyu (8,188m/26,864ft); Purja wrote on social media that he had originally planned only Gasherbrum II but added Broad Peak after calculating that doing so would leave just Cho Oyu remaining. He co-founded Elite Exped and founded the Nimsdai Foundation, was part of the Nepali team that made the January 2021 winter ascent of K2, and featured in the Netflix documentary “14 Peaks: Nothing Is Impossible”. Climbing noted that following the documentary’s release, two women accused Purja of sexual assault in a 2024 New York Times feature, and that a 2025 podcast series questioned some of those allegations. Sakhi, a Hunza-born guide with a mathematics degree, had summited Nanga Parbat without oxygen in 2025 plus K2 and both Gasherbrums, and had spoken to ExplorersWeb the previous summer about pay inequity facing Pakistani guides. Geis, 39, of San Antonio, Texas, was attempting her first 8,000-metre peak after summiting Lobuche East and Mera Peak. Al Harthy became the first Omani woman to summit Everest in 2019 and had climbed Ama Dablam, Manaslu, K2 and Nanga Parbat, posting on LinkedIn three weeks before the avalanche about her goal of climbing all 14 eight-thousanders. Wang Zhong had summited Gasherbrum II alongside Purja on July 4; Gurung, Kili Pemba and Nawang Thindu Sherpa were each experienced high-altitude guides with extensive 8,000-metre records, according to Climbing.
What is not yet confirmed
The precise time the avalanche struck remains unsettled, with reports ranging from roughly 9am to midday ExplorersWeb Alpinist Magazine Climbing Desnivel. The exact trigger elevation is also unresolved, cited variously as approximately 6,579m, 6,600m and 6,660m. Whether one avalanche or two occurred has not been clarified. The status of Geis and Nima Sherpa is contradictory across reports, with both listed as recovered in one account and unaccounted for in another. The identities and condition of the climbers spotted by drone but not identified remain unknown. Whose leg was recovered has not been confirmed. The fate of the body spotted at a higher location on the mountain, and whether a further recovery attempt will be made, is also unconfirmed.
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
- Who was Nirmal Purja, world-famous mountaineer dead after Karakoram avalanche in Pakistan? | World News — Hindustan Times, 1 Aug 2026, 07:00 UTC
- World record-holding mountaineer Nirmal Purja dies in Broad Peak avalanche — myRepublica, 1 Aug 2026, 07:00 UTC
- World awaits status of missing climbers, including Nirmal Purja — The Kathmandu Post, 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 22 Aug 2026 17:45 UTC.
