Nirmal Purja: record climber missing on Broad Peak

British-Nepali climber Nirmal Purja, who is missing after an avalanche on Pakistan's Broad Peak, built his reputation by climbing the world's 14 highest mountains in just over six months in 2019.

Purja, 43, served with Britain's Brigade of Gurkhas and then the Special Boat Squadron of the Royal Marines before becoming a full-time mountaineer and guide. His 2019 climb of the 14 highest peaks broke a previous record of seven years and was chronicled in a 2021 Netflix documentary.

In 2021, Purja joined nine other Nepali climbers in making the first winter ascent of K2, the world's second-highest peak. This week, he wrote on X that he was close to becoming the first person to climb all 14 “super peaks” twice without oxygen and asked Broad Peak for “safe passage up and back down.”

Broad Peak, part of the Karakoram range in northern Pakistan, is the world's 12th-highest mountain and one of the 8,000-metre-plus ascents.

Born in a village in western Nepal, Purja joined the Gurkhas in his teens and later served as an extreme cold weather warfare specialist. He began mountaineering after a trek to an Everest base camp in 2012, climbed his first 8,000-metre peak in 2014 and made his first ascent of Everest in 2016.

He later led a Gurkha climbing expedition and was made a member of the Order of the British Empire for his work in high-altitude mountaineering. After 16 years in the military, he quit to focus on climbing.

Purja has also faced criticism for his use of guides, oxygen, fixed ropes and helicopters between base camps. In 2024, two women mountaineers accused him of sexual harassment and assault, allegations he denied.

He later opened a mountain expedition company. Through his foundation, Purja funded education and mountain clean-ups and built a porter's house on the Everest route.