BROAD PEAK, PAKISTAN – An avalanche swept ten international climbers into the deadly danger zone on Broad Peak. Missing among them is Nimal Purja, one of the world’s top extreme mountaineers.
The avalanche struck at high altitude on Thursday midday, catching the entire rope team. Since then there has been no trace of the ten alpinists. Pakistan authorities and the Alpine Club of Pakistan have listed the group as missing.
An immediate aerial search was impossible. The authorities stress that all preparations are under way to ascend as soon as the weather clears.
Avalanche strikes in the death zone
A massive slab of snow broke loose on the upper slopes of Broad Peak on Thursday afternoon. The entire rope team was caught in the slide and swept down the mountain.
Pakistan officials and the Alpine Club of Pakistan have officially classified the ten climbers as missing. No sign of them has been found since the avalanche.
Last plan before the climb
Before his expedition, Purja shared online that he had changed his original goal. He had planned only to climb Gasherbrum II. At the last minute he decided to add Broad Peak to his itinerary.
His calculation: if he conquered the 8,047-metre peak, only one eight-thousander would remain. He would then become the first person to have climbed all 14 highest mountains on Earth a second time without supplementary oxygen.
Who is in the missing group
The rope team consisted of an international crew. Five of the missing are Nepalese climbers under Purja’s leadership. Among them is Sohel Sakhi, a Pakistani alpinist from the Hunza Valley.
Also missing are a Chinese mountaineer named Wang, a climber from Oman, an American, and one person whose nationality has not yet been clarified. The uncertainty over the group’s fate continues.
Weak signal from the mountain
Mingma Gyabu Sherpa, a business partner of Purja, confirmed to a Nepalese newspaper that Purja’s tracking device continues to report position changes.
Purja’s tracking device continues to report position changes.
said Mingma Gyabu Sherpa, Purja’s business partner, to a Nepalese newspaper.
But interpreting the signal is difficult. It is unclear whether the movement comes from the climber himself or whether wind, snow or terrain changes are affecting the positional data. Reliable location tracking is currently impossible.
Search on hold until weather clears
The Alpine Club of Pakistan is coordinating the rescue mission at high speed. As soon as flying conditions allow, helicopters and ground rescue teams will head to the area. The timing depends entirely on the weather.
For the ten missing climbers, time is the critical factor. In the death zone above 8,000 metres, the human body cannot survive long without protection and sufficient oxygen. Broad Peak is the 12th highest mountain in the world, notorious for its unpredictable, extreme weather and treacherous avalanche slopes.
The fastest man on 14 peaks
Nimal Purja is no ordinary mountaineer. The 43-year-old served in the British Army and a Royal Navy special forces unit. His body and will are trained for extreme stress.
In 2019, he made history by climbing all 14 eight-thousanders in just over six months. He shattered the previous record of almost eight years and earned multiple entries in the Guinness Book of Records. A Netflix film from 2021 titled “Broad Peak” tells the story of Polish climbers attempting the summit in winter.