Himal Press 
KATHMANDU: World-renowned mountaineer Nirmal Purja, affectionately known in the climbing world as Nimsdai, has passed away.
Purja’s company, Elite Expeditions, confirmed his demise in a social media post on Saturday afternoon.
“It is with profound sadness and immense heartbreak that we confirm that Nirmal ‘Nimdai’ Purja tragically lost his life following the avalanche on Broad Peak. We have received confirmation that other members of the expedition sadly did not survive,” it added.
Purja had gone missing with nine other climbers when an avalanche hit the climbing party at around 9 am on Thursday at around 6,600 meters, between Camp 2 and Camp 3 of the world’s 12th highest mountain.
Rescue workers recovered four bodies on Friday, with the remaining bodies, including Purja’s, found on Saturday afternoon.
Purja had not initially planned to climb Broad Peak. He joined the expedition after summiting Gasherbrum II on July 24 as he chased a rare feat of climbing 14 8,000-meter peaks and the Seven Summits, the tallest peaks on all seven continents, three times each.
“Initially, the plan was to climb just Gasherbrum II. But just before setting off for Pakistan, I ran the numbers on my 8000-meter summits. That is when it hit me: if I tick off Broad Peak whilst I’m here, only one remains—Cho Oyu. Then I become the first person in history to climb all 14 eight-thousanders twice, without oxygen,” Purja wrote on X after his Gasherbrum II summit.
But destiny had other plans.
Born and brought up in Nepal, Purja joined the British Army in 2003 as a Gurkha and later served in the elite Special Boat Service of the Royal Navy. In 2018, he left the military to pursue high-altitude mountaineering.
Previously little known in climbing circles, Purja stunned the world in 2019 with his audacious “Project Possible,” aiming to summit all 14 of the world’s 8,000-meter peaks in just seven months. He climbed Annapurna, Dhaulagiri, Kanchenjunga, Mount Everest, Lhotse and Makalu within a single month. He continued his campaign in Pakistan in July of the same year, climbing Nanga Parbat, Gasherbrum I, Gasherbrum II, K2 and Broad Peak in rapid succession. He completed the remaining peaks later that year—Cho Oyu and Manaslu in September, and finally Shishapangma in October.
He broke South Korean climber Kim Chang-ho’s previous record of seven years, 10 months and six days. Purja’s record was broken by Kristin Harila and Tenjen Sherpa in 2023.
He was also part of a 10-member team of elite Nepali mountaineers who made the first winter summit of K2 in 2021.
Purja’s exploits reached a global audience through the Netflix documentary 14 Peaks: Nothing Is Impossible, which chronicled his record-breaking journey and helped elevate him to international fame.
Through Elite Expeditions, he went on to build one of the most prominent guiding companies operating across the Himalayas, the Karakoram and beyond.
Purja is survived by his wife Suchi and daughter Himani.
