On a Thursday afternoon in the Karakoram, one of the world's most unforgiving ranges, an avalanche on Broad Peak swallowed ten climbers into uncertainty — among them Nirmal Purja, the man who once raced through the world's fourteen highest peaks in 189 days and made the impossible seem almost ordinary. The mountain that has drawn human ambition from every corner of the globe now holds those ambitions in suspension, as poor weather keeps rescuers grounded and the silence from the slopes deepens. A tracking device offers a fragile thread of hope, but the Karakoram, as it always has, sets the ter
Netflix's '14 Peaks' mountaineer Nirmal Purja missing after Broad Peak avalanche
Ten climbers missing after avalanche on Broad Peak; rescue operations delayed by poor weather conditions in remote mountain region.
Movement could mean he was conscious, or the snow itself was moving
Mark
What made Purja's 189-day record so remarkable when it was broken just four years later?
Mimi
It wasn't really about the time standing forever. It was about being first to prove it was possible at all. He shattered the assumption that eight years was the floor. Once he showed it could be done in six months, others could chase it harder.
Mark
The tracking device showing movement after the avalanche—what does that actually tell us?
Mimi
It's both hopeful and uncertain. Movement could mean he was conscious and moving, or it could mean the device itself was carried by the snow. His partner was careful not to claim it meant he was alive. That caution matters.
Mark
Why does the Karakoram have a worse safety record than the Himalayas, despite being less famous?
Mimi
Technical difficulty. The Himalayas are high, but the Karakoram is steeper, more unstable, more prone to sudden weather shifts. Broad Peak especially—the upper slopes are a minefield during summer. You're not just fighting altitude; you're fighting the mountain's geometry.
Mark
How much did the Netflix documentary change what mountaineering meant to the public?
Mimi
It made it human. Before that, these climbs were abstract achievements for specialists. The film showed Purja as a person with doubts, with a team, with a reason beyond ego. That's why his name reached people who've never climbed anything.
Mark
What happens to the rescue effort if weather doesn't clear?
Mimi
The window closes. In the Karakoram in summer, you get brief weather windows. If this one passes, they may have to wait days or weeks for another. And the longer you wait at that altitude after an avalanche, the worse the odds become.
Le Pouls
- An avalanche struck Broad Peak around midday Thursday, sweeping ten climbers — including Netflix-famous mountaineer Nirmal Purja — into unreachable silence on one of Earth's most lethal ranges.
- The group is strikingly international: five Nepali climbers, a Pakistani from Hunza, an Omani, an American, a Chinese climber, and one other foreigner — a reminder that the death zone has become a global destination.
- A tracking device Purja carried showed positional movement after the slide, suggesting he may have been carried downhill by the snow, but rescuers cannot confirm whether he is conscious or alive.
- Helicopters remain grounded by poor weather, with the Alpine Club of Pakistan coordinating standby rescue operations entirely at the mercy of the Karakoram's notoriously unpredictable skies.
- The Karakoram's fatality rate exceeds even the Himalayas, and Broad Peak's upper slopes have a history of avalanche incidents — the range has always demanded more than human ambition alone can answer.
On a Thursday afternoon in the Karakoram, one of the world's most unforgiving ranges, an avalanche on Broad Peak swallowed ten climbers into uncertainty — among them Nirmal Purja, the man who once raced through the world's fourteen highest peaks in 189 days and made the impossible seem almost ordinary. The mountain that has drawn human ambition from every corner of the globe now holds those ambitions in suspension, as poor weather keeps rescuers grounded and the silence from the slopes deepens. A tracking device offers a fragile thread of hope, but the Karakoram, as it always has, sets the terms.
An avalanche swept across Broad Peak on Thursday afternoon, carrying ten climbers into silence. Among the missing was Nirmal Purja — known as Nims Dai — the Nepal-born British mountaineer whose 2019 record of climbing all fourteen eight-thousand-metre peaks in just 189 days made him a global figure, amplified further by the Netflix documentary 14 Peaks: Nothing Is Impossible. The Alpine Club of Pakistan confirmed the slide struck around midday on the 8,047-metre mountain in the Karakoram range, straddling Pakistan-occupied Gilgit-Baltistan and China. Since then, the team has been unreachable.
Purja's path to mountaineering was improbable. A Nepal-born Royal Marine who served in British special forces, he arrived at Everest Base Camp in 2012 with no intention of summiting — then climbed it anyway. That impulse became a career. His 2019 Project Possible shattered a record that had stood at nearly eight years, and though Norwegian climber Kristin Harila and her Nepali guide Tenjin Sherpa later completed the same fourteen peaks in 92 days, it was Purja's feat that first seized the world's imagination.
The ten missing climbers represent a cross-section of modern high-altitude mountaineering: five Nepali climbers, Pakistani climber Sohail Sakhi from Hunza, an Omani named Nathira, American Mallory Geis, a Chinese climber identified as Wang, and one other foreign climber. Their diversity reflects what these summits have become — a shared human obsession drawing people from every continent.
One fragile signal offers hope. Mingma Gyabu Sherpa, Purja's business partner and a Nepal lawmaker, reported that data from a tracking device Purja was carrying showed movement after the avalanche struck, suggesting he may have been displaced downhill by the snow rather than buried in place. Sherpa was careful to note the device could not confirm whether Purja was conscious or alive — only that his position had changed.
Helicopters remain grounded by poor weather, and the Karakoram — the most technically demanding high-altitude range on Earth, with fatality rates exceeding even the Himalayas — continues to set the terms. The Alpine Club of Pakistan said senior officials are coordinating rescue resources, with aircraft on standby to deploy the moment conditions allow. For now, the mountain holds its silence, and the world waits.
An avalanche swept across Broad Peak on Thursday afternoon, and with it went ten climbers into silence. Among them was Nirmal Purja, the Nepal-born British mountaineer whose record-breaking ascent of the world's fourteen highest peaks had made him a household name beyond the climbing world. The Alpine Club of Pakistan confirmed the slide hit around midday on the 8,047-metre mountain in the Karakoram range, which straddles Pakistan-occupied Gilgit-Baltistan and China. Since then, the team has been unreachable.
Purja, known to friends and followers as Nims Dai, had built an unlikely path to mountaineering fame. Born in Nepal, he joined the British Army in 2003 and became a Royal Marine, serving in elite special forces units before turning his attention to the mountains. His entry into high-altitude climbing came almost by chance. In 2012, he trekked to Everest Base Camp with no intention of summiting. Once there, he changed his mind and climbed it anyway. That decision altered everything.
In 2019, he launched Project Possible: an audacious attempt to climb all fourteen peaks above 8,000 metres faster than anyone had ever done. The previous record stood at just under eight years. Purja finished in 189 days. The achievement rippled far beyond mountaineering circles. Netflix turned his story into the documentary 14 Peaks: Nothing Is Impossible, which introduced his name and his feat to millions of viewers who had never heard of the Karakoram or the death zone. His record would later be surpassed in 2023 by Norwegian climber Kristin Harila and her Nepali guide Tenjin Sherpa, who completed the same fourteen peaks in 92 days, but Purja's accomplishment remained the one that had captured the world's imagination first.
The ten missing climbers include five Nepalese mountaineers, Pakistani climber Sohail Sakhi from Hunza, an Omani climber named Nathira, American climber Mallory Geis, a Chinese climber identified only as Wang, and one other foreign climber. Their names and nationalities underscore what high-altitude mountaineering has become: a global enterprise, drawing climbers from every continent to pursue the same summits.
What offers rescuers any glimmer of hope is a tracking device Purja carried at the moment the avalanche struck. Mingma Gyabu Sherpa, Purja's business partner and a Nepal lawmaker, told local media on Friday that data from the device showed movement after the slide. The location had shifted from where the avalanche initially swept him, suggesting he may have been carried downhill by the snow. But Sherpa was careful not to overstate what the data meant. The device could not confirm whether Purja was conscious or alive, only that his position had changed. Detailed information about what happened reached Purja's team only Thursday evening, hours after the mountain had moved.
The Karakoram is the most technically demanding high-altitude range on Earth, with a fatality rate that exceeds even the Himalayas. Broad Peak's upper slopes are notorious for unpredictable conditions during the summer climbing season, and the mountain has seen multiple avalanche incidents over the years. Poor weather has so far prevented helicopters from reaching the site. The Alpine Club of Pakistan said its president, Maj Gen Irfan Arshad, and senior officials are coordinating efforts to mobilise rescue resources as soon as conditions allow. Authorities were preparing to deploy helicopters on Friday morning if the weather improved. Until then, rescue operations remain on standby, entirely dependent on whether the Karakoram clears enough to allow aircraft to reach the mountain.
Citations marquantes
Initially, it appeared that he had been swept downhill by the avalanche. But after the point where the tracking had stopped, the location appears to have shifted again.— Mingma Gyabu Sherpa, Purja's business partner
The tracking data could not confirm Purja's condition or whether he was conscious.— Mingma Gyabu Sherpa
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