The mountaineer who summited all 14 of the world's highest peaks inside seven months died on a mountain that does not rank among them. Nirmal Purja, 43, a British-Nepali former special forces soldier and the subject of a 2021 Netflix documentary, was among 10 climbers killed Thursday by an avalanche on Broad Peak, a 26,414-foot peak in Pakistan's Karakoram range. The dead include American climber Sarah Mallory Geis and climbers from Pakistan, Nepal and China; his expedition company, Elite Exped, confirmed the toll on Saturday.
Rescue halted, then resumed
Pakistani rescue teams recovered three bodies on Friday, including Geis, before weather forced a halt in the remote, difficult terrain. Operations resumed Saturday. Teams are still working to recover seven remaining bodies.
Elite Exped said Purja had been leading the group up the mountain when the avalanche struck. "The world has lost one of mountaineering's greatest climbers," the company said in a Saturday statement, adding that it mourned every life lost in the tragedy.
Irfan Arshad Khan, president of the Alpine Club of Pakistan, credited the military, Sherpas and civilians who joined the recovery effort. He called the loss immeasurable to the global mountaineering community and acknowledged the immense risks faced by those who venture into the high Himalaya and Karakoram.
A record built in seven months
Purja served in the British army with the Gurkhas before transferring to British special forces. He left military service to pursue high-altitude climbing and became the subject of the 2021 Netflix documentary "14 Peaks: Nothing Is Impossible," which followed his attempt to summit all 14 mountains above 8,000 meters in seven months. British Defense Minister Wes Streeting, in a Saturday statement, described him as "an inspirational man who served in our Armed Forces for many years."
The counterargument
The case for elite experience managing risk at altitude is real. Purja's 14-peaks record required acclimatization discipline and route judgment at a level very few climbers reach. Those attributes explain why he returned from dozens of prior expeditions. They do not explain Thursday, because they were not in play: an avalanche above camp does not negotiate with the climber's record.
On balance, the Broad Peak disaster does not indict high-altitude mountaineering as a category. It names the specific hazard the sport cannot train away. Seven bodies remain on the mountain.