A celebrated Nepali mountaineer featured in a hit Netflix documentary is feared to have died after a powerful avalanche tore across Broad Peak in Pakistan, leaving at least four climbers dead.
Nirmal Purja, 43, known to global audiences from the 2021 film 14 Peaks: Nothing Is Impossible, is one of six climbers still missing after a wall of snow and ice struck the 8,047-metre (26,400ft) mountain in the Karakoram range at around midday local time on Thursday, July 30.
Purja, a former Royal Marine, had been leading a 10-member expedition that included four Nepalese climbers, one Pakistani, one Omani, one American, a climber from China and another foreign national.
Officials said rescue teams found four bodies on Friday and were pressing on with efforts to locate the remaining six, although poor weather conditions were disrupting helicopter operations.
Two of those confirmed dead have been identified as Nadhira Ahmed Abdullah Al Harthy, the first Omani to summit Everest, and Nepalese climber Pur Bahadur Gurung.
The Alpine Club of Pakistan (ACP) said in a statement on Thursday that it had received “deeply concerning reports” of an avalanche hitting a climbing team on Broad Peak in the Karakoram mountain range.
Renowned Nepali mountaineer Nirmal Purja is feared dead after an avalanche swept through Pakistan’s Broad Peak, killing at least four climbers — pictured in 2021
Purja, who appeared in the 2021 documentary 14 Peaks: Nothing Is Impossible, is among six people missing after the avalanche struck the mountain in Pakistan’s Gilgit-Baltistan at around noon local time on Thursday, July 30 — pictured in 2020
Broad Peak, at 8,047 meters (26,401 feet), is the world’s 12th-highest mountain
They added ‘the team could not be reached since the incident.’ Broad Peak is the world’s 12th-highest mountain.
The American climber has been named as Mallory Geis, 39.
Geis lives in San Antonio. She announced on social media earlier this year that she was closing her Pilates studio to take ‘a giant leap of faith into the unknown to see where life goes. I have a sneaking suspicion there will be lots of helmets, harnesses, and crampons involved.’
Per CNN, the location of four of the climbers is showing on GPS, according to Alpine Club general secretary Ayaz Ahmed Shigri.
Purja’s business partner, Mingma Gyabu Sherpa, who is also a member of the Nepali house of representatives, said GPS data appeared to show movement from Purja’s tracking device after the incident.
‘Initially, it appeared that he had been swept downhill by the avalanche’ he told the Nepali news site Kantipur.
‘But after the point where the tracking had stopped, the location appears to have shifted again.”
‘We have received information that one person’s location appears to be near the foot of the mountain. A search team has gone there to verify.
Purja, known as Nims, rose to prominence in 2019 when he climbed all 14 of the world’s mountains with peaks above 8,000 metres (26,247ft) in 189 days – smashing the previous record by more than seven years.
The challenge was the focus of a Netflix documentary called 14 Peaks: Nothing Is Impossible.
Purja powered to the top of the mountains, each with peaks in the so-called ‘death zone’, starting with Annapurna on April 23 2019 and taking in Everest in May and K2 in July.
At the time, he said: ‘It has been a grueling but humbling six months, and I hope to have proven that anything is possible with some determination, self-belief and positivity.
‘I could not have made it happen without the unending support of my friends and family who have been in my heart this entire time. We started with nothing, but look how far we’ve come.’
Purja, who served with Britain’s Brigade of Gurkhas before joining the Special Boat Squadron of the Royal Marines, has broken multiple climbing records since becoming a full-time mountaineer and tour guide.
Puja is pictured in the 2021 documentary which chronicled his journey to conquering all 14 ‘eight-thousanders’ (peaks above 8,000 metres or 26,000 feet)
Purja was the first person to reach the summits of Mount Everest, Lhotse and Makalu within 48 hours – pictured on the Netflix show
Born in a village in western Nepal, Purja joined the Gurkhas – a brigade of Nepalis in British army famous for their fearlessness – in his teens.
The adventurer told AFP in a 2019 interview that even a pair of flip-flops were a luxury for him when he was a child.
Purja served in the British military for 16 years, 10 of which were spent in the special forces, and he was awarded an MBE by the Queen in 2018 for his achievement in extreme high-altitude mountaineering.
He became the first Gurkha to join the elite unit, and worked as a cold-weather warfare specialist.
The cold weather warfare specialist said he was the first Gurkha to climb Everest while serving in the British military.
His tryst with mountaineering began on a trek to an Everest base camp in 2012 when he summited the 6,119-metre (20,075-foot) Lobuche.
He climbed his first ‘8,000er’ in 2014. Two years later, when a period of leave following a deployment to Afghanistan coincided with the climbing season, he made his first ascent of Everest.
‘If you are from Nepal, everyone asks you about Everest. So I then used my breaks for mountaineering,’ he said.
Purja pictured in 2019 on the summit of Kangchenjunga
Though he has been banned from discussing his work, he claimed to have been involved in all theatres of war Britain was involved in during his time in the military.
Purja said he was once wounded by a sniper who narrowly missed his neck, instead striking the stock of his rifle.
He said he passed on an invitation to join the SAS, instead resigning from the SBS as a Lance Corporal in 2018 to focus on his mountaineering work.
Purja has climbed Mount Everest six times in his career, the latest climb taking place in 2022.
In 2016, he broke mountaineering conventions to rescue a climber left in the ‘Everest death zone’, bringing her to safety alone.
In 2019, he climbed all 14 of the world’s 8,000m plus mountains in just over six months.
In the interview with AFP, Purja had said he hoped his feat would inspire the next generation of Nepali climbers to break his records.
‘As a Nepali, I hope my climbs put a spotlight on the talented climbers here,’ he said.
Nepali guides, usually ethnic Sherpas from the valleys around Everest, are the backbone of the country’s lucrative climbing industry, but often do not get as much credit or accolades as international climbers.
This handout photograph taken and released by Alpine Club of Pakistan on July 31, 2026 shows rescue mountaineers before departing from Skardu Air Base in Pakistan
Long relegated to supporting roles, Nepali climbers began gaining recognition in their own right as Purja’s global profile shone a spotlight on their achievements.
Through his foundation, Purja funded education and mountain clean-ups. He also built a porter’s house on the Everest route to provide safe housing for them.
Despite several records under his belt, Purja constantly sought new adventures.
‘There are always (new) boundaries,’ he told AFP, ‘(That’s) human, that’s what we do.’
