If you watched “14 Peaks: Nothing Is Impossible” on Netflix, you already know Nirmal Purja. He is the guy who climbed all 14 of the world’s tallest mountains in about six months, laughing and cracking jokes at altitudes that kill most people. Now the 43-year-old climber is one of 10 people missing after an avalanche tore through his team on Pakistan’s Broad Peak. Rescuers have already pulled four bodies off the mountain. Here is what actually happened, and why the response has raised so many questions.
Who Nirmal Purja Actually Is
Most Americans first heard the name because of that Netflix film. But Purja, known to fans as “Nims” or “Nimsdai,” had a whole life before the cameras showed up. He was born in Nepal and spent 16 years as a soldier, first in the British Army’s Brigade of Gurkhas and later in the Special Boat Service, the same elite Royal Navy unit that trains for the kind of missions Hollywood makes movies about. Queen Elizabeth II handed him an MBE in 2018.
Then in 2019 he did the thing that made him famous. Between April and October, he summited every mountain on Earth above 8,000 meters, a record he called Project Possible. The previous record for that feat was closer to eight years. He did it in six months and six days. That sprint is exactly what the Netflix documentary captured, and it turned a former Marine into one of the most recognizable climbers alive.
What Happened On Broad Peak
Broad Peak sits in the Karakoram range right on the border between Pakistan and China. At 8,051 meters, or about 26,414 feet, it is the 12th-highest mountain in the world. On Thursday, four separate teams were pushing toward the summit at the same time. Purja was leading his EliteExped group. The plan was to move from Camp 2 up to Camp 3 that day, then go for the top on Friday.
The avalanche hit around midday, catching the climbers somewhere between Camp 2 and Camp 3 at roughly 6,660 meters. Some reports mention two slides, not just one. Whatever the exact count, it swept over a large group of people strung out along the route at the worst possible moment. Since then, there has been no contact with anyone in the team. Explorersweb, which tracks these expeditions closely, laid out the timeline of the four teams on the mountain that day.
The 13-Hour Gap That Nobody Can Explain
Here is the part that makes climbers grind their teeth. The avalanche came down around 9:20 in the morning. Every team on that mountain had staff sitting at Base Camp. And yet the alarm did not go out until nearly 10 that night. “We only found out at 10 pm,” said Naila Kiani of the Alpine Club of Pakistan.
That means an entire day of clear daylight was lost. In the mountains, daylight is everything. Helicopters cannot fly rescue missions to that elevation in the dark, and the window for pulling anyone out alive shrinks by the hour. If the call had gone out in the morning, choppers might have reached the site before sunset. Instead the first helicopters were only set to fly Friday, loaded with rescuers and oxygen, roughly a full day after the snow came down.
Four Bodies Recovered, Six Still Missing
By Friday, ground teams had located four bodies. Irfan Arshad Khan, president of the Alpine Club of Pakistan, confirmed the recovery, though officials moved slowly on names as they worked to notify families. Two of the four were later identified as Nadhira Al Harthy from Oman and Pur Bahadur Gurung, a Nepali climber nicknamed “Yukta.” The others had not been publicly named as the search continued.
The full expedition was a genuine mix of nationalities. Alongside Purja were fellow Nepali climbers Kili Pemba Sherpa, Nima Sherpa, Gyalu Sherpa, and Nawang Thindu Sherpa. There was Pakistani mountaineer Sohail Sakhi from Hunza, Chinese climber Wang Zhong, Omani climber Ahmed Abdullah Al Harthy, and an American, Mallory Geis of San Antonio, who was climbing with Sakhi. The list of names reads like a snapshot of how international high-altitude climbing has become.
One Thin Piece Of Hope
Amid all the bad news, there was a single detail keeping families and rescuers going. The GPS trackers carried by some of the climbers were still pinging locations, and at least one of them showed movement. Ayaz Ahmed Shigri, the Alpine Club’s general secretary, said four climbers’ GPS positions were showing up on trackers. Reports also pointed to activity on Purja’s own device.
Movement on a tracker does not guarantee anything. A device can shift for reasons that have nothing to do with the person wearing it. But in a situation this grim, it was enough for crews to keep pushing hard. Karrar Haidiri of the Alpine Club said teams were coordinating with authorities to arrange a helicopter rescue on Friday morning, weather permitting. The good news on that front was that skies were clear Friday and expected to stay that way through the weekend.
Why Rescues In Pakistan Move Slower
If you have followed climbing in Nepal, you might wonder why the response here felt sluggish. There is a real reason for that. In Nepal, private helicopter companies can be in the air fast, sometimes within hours of a distress call. In Pakistan, most high-altitude helicopter operations run through military channels, and that means clearances, paperwork, and sign-offs before anything can fly.
Nepal’s ambassador to Pakistan, Rita Dhital, confirmed that the country had mobilized helicopters, drones, and ground teams for the search. Army helicopters joined the effort, and the military helped coordinate the whole operation. That is a serious amount of firepower, but the layered approval process is exactly why officials openly admit that operations there generally take longer than in Nepal. When you combine that with the 13-hour delay before anyone even sounded the alarm, you get a rescue that started way behind schedule.
His Own Words Before The Climb
What makes this one hit differently is what Purja said before he ever set foot on Broad Peak. This climb was not part of his big plan. He had been talking publicly about a run at Cho Oyu, the sixth-highest mountain, as part of a bid to become the first person to summit all 14 of the 8,000-meter peaks twice. Broad Peak got added at the last minute.
In one social media post, he called Broad Peak “a last-minute decision to break a record” and wrote plainly, “This was never the plan.” In another message posted before the ascent, he wrote, “Broad Peak, I ask for nothing but safe passage up and back down.” For a man who built his entire reputation on the idea that nothing is impossible, those words land hard now.
What Comes Next
As of the latest updates, the search was ongoing. Four bodies were down, six climbers were still unaccounted for, and crews were using every tool they had, from drones to army helicopters to ground teams walking the debris field. The weather was cooperating, which is more than rescuers usually get in the Karakoram this time of year.
For the families waiting on word, the GPS pings were the last real thread to hold. For everyone else who knew Purja only as the smiling face on their TV screen, it was a reminder that the mountains he made look easy have never actually been easy. Broad Peak has taken lives before. In 2013, three Iranian climbers died on descent after reaching the summit. The mountain does not care how famous you are or how many records you hold.
The Alpine Club said it would release the names of the recovered climbers as official information became available, and that it was in contact with the families of everyone who was missing. Purja, the soldier turned world-record climber who spent years telling audiences that the impossible was just a mindset, was now the subject of the kind of search-and-rescue mission he himself had helped run for others. His fans across the U.S. and around the world were watching the trackers, hoping one more ping would mean he was still moving.
