Nirmal “Nimsdai” Purja, the Nepali-British mountaineer who shattered every known limit of human endurance on the world’s highest peaks, died on 30 July 2026 after an avalanche struck his expedition on Broad Peak in Pakistan’s Karakoram range. He was 43. The avalanche, which hit at around 6,600 metres between Camp 2 and Camp 3, killed all ten members of his climbing team, making it one of the deadliest mountaineering disasters in recent memory. Purja had been attempting to become the first person to climb all 14 eight-thousanders three times, a feat that would have capped a career already brimming with world records.
From Village Life to Special Forces
Nirmal Purja was born on 25 July 1983 in Dana, a small village in Nepal’s Myagdi District near Dhaulagiri, at an altitude of about 1,600 metres above sea level. He was the fourth of five children in a family that faced social ostracism because his parents belonged to different Nepalese castes. “We came from a really poor family,” Purja later told National Geographic. “As a kid, I remember I didn’t even have flip-flops.”
His father was a Gurkha soldier, and three of his older brothers followed the same path, funding his education at an English-speaking boarding school. Purja later attended Loughborough University in England, where he earned a postgraduate diploma in security management. In 2003, he joined the Brigade of Gurkhas, and six years later, in 2009, he was accepted into the Royal Navy’s Special Boat Service (SBS), becoming the first Gurkha to join this elite unit, which is comparable to the US Navy SEALs. He served as a cold-weather warfare specialist and was involved in all theatres of war in which Britain was engaged. He was once wounded when a sniper bullet struck the butt of his rifle, narrowly missing his neck.
In 2018, Purja resigned from the SBS to pursue high-altitude mountaineering full-time. The decision meant giving up his army pension, which he described as a life-changing amount of money. It was a leap of faith into a world where few had dared to push the boundaries of what was thought possible.
Project Possible 14/7: Rewriting Mountaineering History
The concept of climbing all 14 of the world’s eight-thousanders (peaks above 8,000 metres) was not new. But the idea of doing it in seven months was. Before Purja, the fastest anyone had completed all 14 was nearly eight years. In April 2019, Purja launched what he called Project Possible 14/7, with the audacious goal of summiting every eight-thousander in just seven months.
He started on 23 April 2019 with Annapurna and within 31 days had climbed six peaks: Annapurna, Dhaulagiri, Kangchenjunga, Mount Everest, Lhotse, and Makalu. The last five summits were completed in just 12 days. He then broke his own Guinness World Record by climbing Everest, Lhotse, and Makalu within 2 days and 30 minutes.
The second phase, in July 2019, took him to Pakistan’s Karakoram range, where he climbed Nanga Parbat, Gasherbrum I, Gasherbrum II, K2, and Broad Peak in just 24 days. The final phase began in September, with Cho Oyu and Manaslu summited in quick succession. On 29 October 2019, with special permission from Chinese authorities to climb Shishapangma in autumn, Purja completed Project Possible, having summited all 14 eight-thousanders in just 6 months and 6 days.
During the project, a photograph taken by Purja of overcrowding on Mount Everest went viral and was published in The New York Times, drawing global attention to the growing problem of traffic jams on the world’s highest peak. The entire journey was documented in the Netflix feature documentary 14 Peaks: Nothing Is Impossible, released in November 2021, which brought Purja’s story to millions of viewers worldwide.
First Winter Ascent of K2
K2, at 8,611 metres, is the world’s second-highest mountain and widely regarded as the most dangerous eight-thousander. Despite numerous attempts since 1987, no team had ever reached its summit in winter until January 2021. Purja, along with nine other Nepali mountaineers, made history on 16 January 2021 by completing the first winter ascent of K2.
The team was a joint effort between Purja’s group, which included Mingma David Sherpa, Mingma Tenzi Sherpa, Geljen Sherpa, Pem Chiri Sherpa, and Dawa Temba Sherpa, and a second team led by Mingma Gyalje Sherpa (Mingma G). After severe weather destroyed lower camps and equipment, the climbers from both teams decided to join forces. At 4:58 pm local time, they reached the summit, and in a moment that captured the spirit of Nepali mountaineering, they sang their national anthem on the top of K2.
Purja was the only team member to reach the summit without supplemental oxygen, becoming the first person ever to do so in winter. The achievement cemented his reputation as one of the greatest mountaineers in history and demonstrated the extraordinary physical and mental resilience that had defined his career.
A Career of Relentless Records
After Project Possible, Purja continued to break records at a pace that stunned the mountaineering world. In May 2022, he set a new speed record for ascending Kangchenjunga, Mount Everest, and Lhotse consecutively without supplemental oxygen, completing the feat in 8 days, 23 hours, and 10 minutes.
On 4 October 2024, he broke two more world records: the fastest time to summit all 14 peaks without supplemental oxygen (2 years and 5 months), and the fastest to summit all 14 peaks both with and without supplemental oxygen. Just weeks later, on 21 October 2024, he became the first person to summit all 14 peaks and the Seven Summits (the highest peaks on each continent) both with and without supplemental oxygen.
In July 2025, Purja reached a milestone no other climber had achieved, completing his 50th successful ascent of an eight-thousander, with 22 of those without supplemental oxygen. These figures set two new records: the most successful summits by any climber and the most successful summits without supplemental oxygen.
Earlier in 2026, just months before his death, Purja broke his own world record for the fastest traverse of Everest and Lhotse without supplemental oxygen, climbing from the summit of Everest to the summit of Lhotse in 13 hours, beating his previous record of 25 hours. He then climbed Makalu, marking his 56th ascent of an eight-thousander, further extending his record for the highest number of such summits.
Purja was also a passionate advocate for environmental conservation in the mountains. Through the Nimsdai Foundation, he launched the Big Mountain Clean Up project to remove waste from high peaks, and announced the Hat-Trick Challenge in 2025, aiming to climb all 14 peaks and the Seven Summits for a third time, with all proceeds supporting the foundation’s charitable work.
The Broad Peak Avalanche
On 30 July 2026, at approximately 9:30 am local time, an avalanche struck Purja’s expedition team on Broad Peak (8,051 metres), the twelfth-highest mountain in the world, located in Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan. The avalanche hit at an altitude of about 6,600 metres, between Camp 2 and Camp 3 on the mountain’s west ridge, sweeping the climbers down several hundred metres. GPS trackers recorded the devastating fall: Purja’s tracker showed he fell about 800 metres, while Omani climber Nadhira Al Harthy fell almost to the base of the mountain.
The team of ten included climbers from multiple countries: Nepal, the United Kingdom, the United States, China, Pakistan, and Oman. Among the victims were several highly experienced Sherpa guides, including Kili “Kilu” Pemba Sherpa, who had been part of the team that made the first winter ascent of K2 in 2021. Nadhira Al Harthy of Oman had made history in 2019 as the first Omani woman to summit Mount Everest. American climber Mallory Geis, aged 39, was on her first eight-thousander expedition.
Conditions in the days before the avalanche had been unstable, with a major windstorm reported on 18 July and elevated humidity throughout the region indicating fresh snow accumulation through 29 July. Despite the challenging conditions, the expedition had proceeded.
Rescue efforts began immediately, with military helicopters and ground search parties deployed. On 1 August, Purja’s climbing company Elite Expeditions confirmed that all ten climbers had perished. On 2 August, a Nepali-Pakistani rescue team recovered Purja’s body at around 5,700 metres. The disaster was one of the worst mountaineering tragedies in the Karakoram in recent years, and teams from neighbouring K2 aborted their summit pushes to assist in the search.
Global Tributes and Legacy
The mountaineering world and heads of state paid tribute to Purja after his death was confirmed. William, Prince of Wales, described him as “one of the world’s greatest mountaineers” and said his thoughts were with the families of all those killed. Bear Grylls, the British adventurer, called Purja a “remarkable and unique man” with an “unstoppable spirit.” Nepal’s Prime Minister Balen Shah said the history of Purja’s courage and dedication “will always remain inspiring.”
Purja’s contributions extended well beyond the mountains. In 2018, Queen Elizabeth II appointed him a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for outstanding achievement in extreme high-altitude mountaineering. In November 2023, he received the ISPO Cup Award in Düsseldorf, Germany, recognising both his mountaineering career and his charitable work through the Nimsdai Foundation. In December 2023, Loughborough University awarded him an honorary degree in recognition of his military service and world record-breaking achievements.
Purja’s story challenged the idea that records exist merely to be broken by small margins. He redefined what was thought possible in high-altitude mountaineering, proving that with extraordinary physical conditioning, mental resilience, and an unwavering belief in oneself, the boundaries of human endurance could be pushed far beyond what anyone had imagined. He leaves behind his wife Suchi Purja and their daughter, and a legacy that will inspire mountaineers for generations to come.
Key Takeaways
- Nirmal “Nimsdai” Purja, a Nepali-British mountaineer, died on 30 July 2026 at age 43 after an avalanche struck his expedition on Broad Peak (8,051 m) in Pakistan’s Karakoram range, killing all ten team members.
- In 2019, Purja completed Project Possible 14/7, climbing all 14 of the world’s eight-thousanders in just 6 months and 6 days, shattering the previous record of nearly eight years.
- He was the first person to summit Mount Everest, Lhotse, and Makalu within 48 hours, and the first to climb K2 in winter without supplemental oxygen on 16 January 2021.
- Purja completed 56 successful ascents of eight-thousanders in his career, the highest number by any climber, including 22 summits without supplemental oxygen, both world records.
- He was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in 2018 and received the ISPO Cup Award in 2023 for his mountaineering career and charitable work through the Nimsdai Foundation.
- The 2026 Broad Peak avalanche was one of the deadliest mountaineering disasters in the Karakoram in recent years, claiming lives from Nepal, the UK, the US, China, Pakistan, and Oman.
