On a Thursday midday in the Karakoram, the mountain spoke in the only language it has ever known — sudden, indifferent force — and ten climbers, among them Nirmal Purja, the man who once raced time itself across the world's highest summits, fell silent on Broad Peak. Their disappearance after an avalanche at 8,047 metres has set in motion an international rescue effort, one constrained not by will but by weather, that ancient arbiter of what is possible at altitude. In the space between the last transmission and the first helicopter, the climbing world holds its breath.
Renowned climber Nirmal Purja feared missing after Broad Peak avalanche
Ten mountaineers feared missing and presumed at risk following avalanche on Broad Peak; international rescue operations underway.