Nirmal Purja: The Legendary Mountaineer
It should be noted that Nirmal Purja died on July 30, 2026, in an avalanche at Broad Peak in Pakistan, together with a number of the other members of his expedition team. This article is about his life and his legacy.
Early Life and Military Career
Nirmal "Nims" Purja MBE was born in Dana, a village in the Myagdi District of Nepal's Gandaki Province, on July 25, 1983. He entered the Brigade of Gurkhas in the British Army and subsequently became one of the very few Gurkhas to be chosen for the UK Special Boat Service (SBS), which is part of Britain's special forces. The discipline and endurance that later characterised his climbing career were developed through his time in the military.
Rise as a Mountaineer
Purja did not start serious high-altitude climbing until relatively late when judged by elite standards, and he reached the summit of his first eight-thousander, Dhaulagiri, on May 18, 2014. While still in the military he continued to climb and soon gained a reputation for being fast and resilient at extreme altitude.
Project Possible: The Defining Achievement
His greatest achievement was Project Possible, a project involving the climbing of all 14 of the world's 8,000-metre peaks — a task which had hitherto taken climbers many years, if not decades. He finished the challenge in six months and six days in 2019, breaking the previous record of nearly eight years. This accomplishment was featured in the highly regarded Netflix documentary 14 Peaks: Nothing Is Impossible (2021), as a result of which he gained worldwide fame. The record remained unbroken until 2023, when it was surpassed by Kristin Harila and Tenjen Sherpa, who achieved the same feat in 92 days.
Other Major Achievements
The first winter climb of K2 in January 2021 was achieved in company with nine other Nepali climbers—this represents a significant achievement in the field of mountaineering since K2 was the last 8,000-metre peak to be climbed in winter.The fastest ascents of Everest, Lhotse, and Makalu were all achieved within a period of 48 hours.In May 2026 he descended from the summit of Everest to that of the adjacent mountain, Lhotse, without using supplementary oxygen.
He famously took a famous photograph of a long queue of climbers close to the summit of Everest in 2019, bringing global attention to the problem of overcrowding on the mountain.
Environmental and Humanitarian Work
The Nimsdai Foundation was established by Purja in 2022, with a focus on humanitarian and environmental issues, one of its more widely publicised projects being an effort to remove the waste left behind by climbers on K2.
Personal Life
Purja was married to Suchi Purja and had a daughter named Himani; he was a British citizen and in November 2023 also acquired Non-Resident Nepali citizenship.
Death
On July 30, 2026, Purja was at the head of an international expedition consisting of ten members on Broad Peak (8,051 m), the 12th highest mountain in the world, in the Gilgit-Baltistan area of Pakistan, when an avalanche hit the group. Ten climbers, including Purja, were killed. Several of the bodies, including his, were retrieved days later as a result of a difficult rescue mission which was obstructed by hazardous conditions and repeated avalanches. Tributes came from all over the world, one of them coming from Nepal's Prime Minister, who lauded his courage and the inspiration he had left behind.
Legacy
Nirmal Purja is regarded as one of the most outstanding high-altitude mountaineers in history having, as a former soldier, shown what was believed to be physically possible in the field of extreme mountaineering, inspiring a generation of climbers (especially those from Nepal), and making use of his position to promote environmental causes as well as the rights of Nepali and Sherpa climbers who are frequently overlooked in mountaineering stories.