One of the world’s most celebrated high-altitude climbers, Nirmal Purja, has died after a devastating avalanche on Broad Peak in northern Pakistan, his expedition company has confirmed.
The 43-year-old British-Nepali mountaineer was among ten climbers reported missing after the avalanche.
Purja was leading the group on Broad Peak the world’s 12th highest mountain — when the slide hit on Thursday. The peak sits in Pakistan’s Karakoram range, where severe terrain and fast-changing conditions can turn a summit push into a fight for survival.
After search efforts resumed this morning, Elite Exped confirmed that Purja had been killed.
“It is with profound sadness and immense heartbreak that we confirm that Nirmal Purja tragically lost his life following the avalanche on Broad Peak,” the company said in a statement posted on social media.
“We have also received confirmation that other members of the expedition sadly did not survive.”
Search teams yesterday recovered the remains of three mountaineers.
Those recovered were an American woman, an Omani woman and a Nepali man, the regional government said in a statement released last night.
Powerful avalanche
Regional authorities said the avalanche struck as the climbers attempted to summit Broad Peak on Thursday, with the team ascending at roughly 6,600 metres when the slide hit.
The expedition included ten people — Purja, five Nepalis, a Pakistani, an Omani, an American, and a climber from China.
Officials said the group was last in contact on Thursday morning, before reports later that evening described a powerful avalanche.
“Data from their tracking devices indicates that they were thrown hundreds of metres down the mountainside,” Naila Kiani, from Pakistan’s Alpine Club, told Le Monde newspaper.
Super peaks
Earlier this week, Purja wrote on X that he was close to becoming the first person to climb all 14 “super peaks” twice without oxygen.
“Broad Peak, I ask for nothing but safe passage up and back down,” he wrote.
Purja previously served with Britain’s Brigade of Gurkhas before joining the Special Boat Squadron of the Royal Marines. Since turning to mountaineering full time — also working as a tour guide — he set a string of records.
In 2019, he climbed all 14 “eight-thousanders” — peaks higher than 8,000 metres — in six months and six days between April and October, a record at the time.
British adventurer Bear Grylls paid tribute to Purja on Instagram, writing: “Heartbreaking news for so many climbers around the world who had a relationship with this remarkable and unique man.
“We will never forget you Nims and your unstoppable spirit.”
Broad Peak, regarded as among the toughest and most technical of the climbs above 8,000 metres, was first summited in 1957 by an Austrian team.
