As he made his way across the frozen terrain towards two motionless figures, Mingma Gyalje Sherpa understood with certainty that his companions had perished. Together, the three mountaineers had conquered the world's tallest summits, navigating beneath clear alpine skies and through violent winter storms. Nirmal Purja and Kili Pemba Sherpa represented among the most formidable climbers Mingma G had encountered throughout his career.
Yet in July 2026, a massive avalanche descended upon Pakistan's Broad Peak while the pair ascended the mountain, consuming everything in its trajectory. According to international news reports, all 10 members of the climbing expedition perished in the disaster. The drone footage appeared unambiguous: survival seemed impossible.
Yet as Mingma G drew nearer to the fluorescent down jackets, vivid against the white landscape, a part of him resisted accepting their deaths.
"I told them: 'It's ok. You don't have to be here in the cold anymore.'"
Speaking in Islamabad, he described the agonising instant he reached for their remains.
Holding one of them, he made a solemn commitment:
"I'm here to take you guys home."
Mingma G and Nirmal Purja's friendship had formed during a pivotal moment in mountaineering history. In 2021, they became part of the inaugural team to reach the summit of K2, the world's second-highest mountain, during the winter season. Mingma G had already recognised Nirmal—known as Nims to friends—from his Netflix documentary 14 Peaks, which documented his achievement of summiting all 14 mountains exceeding 8,000 metres in just over six months.
The two men, both accomplished mountaineers from Nepal, had followed divergent professional trajectories. Mingma G emerged from the Sherpa community and established himself as a respected mountain guide across two decades of expeditions. Nims, a former Gurkha and British Special Forces operative, rapidly ascended to prominence as one of the world's most celebrated mountaineers. According to reports at the time of his death, Purja was 43 years old.
Many observers credited Nims with elevating Nepalese climbers to international prominence within a field traditionally dominated by Western mountaineers. Nevertheless, detractors questioned his emphasis on record-setting and the extensive social media documentation of his expeditions. In 2024, the New York Times published allegations of sexual misconduct from two women, which Purja categorically denied through his legal representative, characterising them as
"false and defamatory."He reiterated his denial in a comprehensive interview shortly thereafter.
Initially, Mingma G harboured reservations about Nims.
"In the beginning, I had the feeling he was very arrogant."This perception shifted five years prior, when their paths intersected as competitors ascending K2. They chose to climb together and share the achievement. Mingma G discovered that Nims possessed
"a very kind-hearted, one of the most beautiful human beings I've met"character. Throughout subsequent years, their routes would intersect on mountains worldwide, with Nims maintaining a regular presence on Everest expeditions.
During the summer of 2026, they encountered one another again while entering the Karakoram range, before separating for distinct climbing objectives. Nims proceeded toward Broad Peak while Mingma G headed to K2, approximately 8 kilometres apart. Nims requested that Mingma G delay his departure by a day to enable one final meeting before their separate expeditions, but circumstances prevented this reunion.
"That was the last thing he told me. I still regret it."
What were the conditions on the day of the avalanche?
On 30 July, atmospheric conditions appeared ideal for mountaineering.
"We had perfect weather, sunshine, no winds,"Mingma G recalls. He was directing a team ascending K2 while Nims's climbing party had merged with others to create a larger contingent of 10 individuals making their way up Broad Peak, which stands at 8,051 metres high.
At 08:30, Mingma G communicated with Kili Pemba Sherpa—known as Kilu—a childhood friend and accomplished climber within Nims's group. Snow conditions appeared favourable, and they agreed to reconnect once both had reached their respective mountains' next camp.
Two trekkers who observed the climbers scaling Broad Peak provided eyewitness accounts.
"We were cheering them on,"one stated, capturing a photograph of the mountaineers as small silhouettes against the snow.
The climbing party continued their ascent. However, less than an hour later, one trekker described hearing
"a thundercrack"followed by
"a huge avalanche, starting from the top going down both sides of Broad Peak."The first trekker continued:
"We were hoping and praying that the climbers were above the avalanche."Yet the silhouettes had vanished from view.
The trekkers' guide immediately notified base camp of the catastrophic event. The Alpine Club of Pakistan informed investigators that while substantial snowfall had occurred earlier that week, preliminary research indicated the avalanche resulted from the collapse of an ice slab, independent of recent precipitation patterns.
How did the rescue effort begin?
Upon reaching the subsequent camp on K2, Mingma G's team had received no communication from the Broad Peak climbers. Panic did not initially set in, as mountaineers routinely deactivate radios to conserve battery capacity. However, something troubled Mingma G deeply.
Wang Zhong, one of the Broad Peak climbers, was both a close friend and a client. He customarily transmitted messages through his Garmin satellite tracker to confirm his safe arrival at each camp. No such message arrived.
At base camp, Pakistani mountain guide Waqar Ali was similarly attempting to establish contact with the group without success. He theorised they might be resting in preparation for a final nocturnal push toward the summit.
By 15:00, base camp personnel had lost all contact with the Broad Peak expedition. Mingma G, positioned at 7,300 metres on K2 where communication proved difficult, initiated urgent calls to officials, family members, contacts in Kathmandu, and anyone potentially in contact with the climbers.
Around 20:00, they received devastating information: altitude readings from the Broad Peak climbers' tracking devices had plummeted dramatically, with one device registering a descent of approximately 1,600 metres. The hour was too late for climbing operations, and darkness prevented drone deployment. Mingma G resolved to await daylight.
"I had hope,"he recalls, particularly regarding Kilu and Nims, who possessed
"experienced and physically… strong"capabilities.
At dawn, a drone ascended the mountain. The operator's subsequent radio transmission confirmed the worst: the aircraft had identified bodies distributed down the slope. Survival appeared impossible.
"I was totally blank,"Mingma G recounts in a subdued voice.
He struggled to accept the simultaneous loss of so many cherished companions.
"Maybe still I had a feeling they might all be alive [and] wanted somebody to help them get down. That was just something I had in my heart and mind."
That same day, Mingma G abandoned his K2 expedition.
What was the initial recovery operation?
At Broad Peak's base, Waqar wept as he arrived with another mountaineer to commence the gruelling task of retrieving the bodies. They recovered the remains of Nadhira Al Harthy, the first Omani woman to summit Everest, and Pur Bahadur Gurung, a Nepalese climber who had reached the summit of 12 of the world's 14 highest peaks.
However, additional bodies remained on the mountain, and Mingma G resolved to bring his companions home. When he contacted Nims's wife and brother-in-law to convey the tragic news, they struggled to comprehend it. Kilu's wife
"couldn't say much, but told me: 'don't leave your brother on the mountain'."
Coordinating the recovery mission's subsequent phases presented substantial complications. The mountaineers who had been ascending K2 alongside Mingma G felt unsettled, he explains, and encountered pressure from their families to return home.
Logistical obstacles compounded the challenge. From drone imagery, Mingma G believed a helicopter equipped with a long-line rope could retrieve the bodies, but he was informed this approach proved infeasible.
"In Nepal it would have taken like two minutes,"he observes. The Pakistani military, which would have supplied helicopters, declined to respond to inquiries. The Alpine Club of Pakistan reported that a request submitted on 1 August received approval, yet adverse weather conditions prevented execution for several days.
Only one alternative remained available to Mingma G: a ground-based recovery operation.
What happened during the dangerous recovery mission?
On 1 August, Mingma G assembled a rescue team to search for four bodies visible in drone imagery—those of Nims, Kilu, Zhong, and fellow climber Nima Sherpa. Gyaljen Sherpa would subsequently be discovered in proximity. The slope's extreme instability created hazards from falling debris and potential additional avalanches. A larger team risked generating more casualties, yet a smaller contingent would struggle to transport the bodies downward.
The moment the rescue team reached the bodies and commenced lowering them via ropes, another avalanche struck. The snow torrent propelled one body toward the base. Three others, including Nims, became lodged in a particularly precarious location—the slope's centre, flanked by towering glacial ice formations precariously balanced on either side. Should either structure collapse during the rescue attempt, the ice tower could sweep the team away.
The team required a revised strategy. As days elapsed, certain members departed. The group diminished from nine to six, then to four individuals.
Given the slope's extreme danger, the team determined that Mingma G would remain at a distance, monitoring via drone and directing the three remaining climbers. The exhausting operation consumed five to six hours, ultimately succeeding in bringing the bodies down the slope.
What did Mingma G observe when he found his friends?
The moment Mingma G first encountered his companions on the mountain continues to haunt him. Nims and Kilu had obscured their faces with their jackets—Mingma G believes they had detected the approaching avalanche and prepared accordingly. The two remained connected by the same rope, their legs wrapped within it. Mingma G suspects they collided during their descent, which he fears may have caused their deaths rather than the fall itself.
"They didn't fall that much, almost 500m. But unfortunately they hit each other a lot, I think. If they were not on the rope, maybe there was a possibility that Nims and Kilu might have survived."
The team transported the bodies down the mountain. Helicopter evacuation conveyed them to the nearby city of Skardu, subsequently to the capital Islamabad, and finally to their families' homes. Pakistani mountaineer Sohail Sakhi's remains were discovered several days later, as were those of American climber Mallory Geis. Nepalese climber Nawang Thindu Sherpa's body remains on the mountain.
The bodies of Nims, Kilu, and Gyaljen Sherpa reached Kathmandu on 11 August. According to reports following the recovery, all 10 expedition members had perished in the disaster.
Nims's family expressed profound gratitude toward the
"extraordinary team led by our brother, Mingma G, who worked in incredibly challenging conditions to bring Nimsdai home."
This recovery operation has profoundly affected Mingma G. It surpasses any previous mission he has undertaken. As he contemplates the experience with deep sorrow, he senses his mountaineering career may be approaching its conclusion.
Recollections of Kilu and Nims—the three of them singing together while ascending toward the summit of a frigid yet brilliant K2 several years prior—will remain permanently etched in his memory.
Yet he expresses uncertainty:
"I'm not sure if it helps, if the memory helps me to keep climbing or it makes me stop."
