Worrying news has just come from Broad Peak. An avalanche has swept the world’s 12th-highest mountain just as a big group was on its way to the summit. Ten people are unaccounted for, including Nirmal “Nims” Purja. Efforts to contact them have been unsuccessful.
Other climbers in the group include Sohail Sakhi with American client Mallory Geiss. Purja was at the head of the EliteExped team.
The climbers’ trackers show their last registered locations. Photo: Samson Sharaf
Here is the Alpine Club of Pakistan’s official press release:
Official report
The Alpine Club of Pakistan (ACP) has received deeply concerning reports of an avalanche that struck a team of climbers on Broad Peak (8,047m) in the Karakoram around midday today.
According to the initial information received, the expedition comprises 10 climbers, including five Nepalese mountaineers led by the renowned climber Nims Dai, one Pakistani climber, Sohail Sakhi from Hunza, Nathira, an Omani mountaineer, American climber Mallory Geis, one Chinese climber, Mr. Wang, and one other foreign climber. The entire team has reportedly been out of communication since the avalanche.
The President of the Alpine Club of Pakistan, Major General Irfan Arshad, along with the senior leadership of the Club, is in constant contact with the highest government authorities and all relevant agencies to facilitate an immediate search and rescue operation. Every possible effort is being made to ensure that helicopter support and all available rescue resources are mobilized at the earliest opportunity, subject to weather and operational conditions.
The Alpine Club of Pakistan is closely monitoring the situation and coordinating with all concerned stakeholders. The Club prays for the safety and successful rescue of all the climbers and stands in solidarity with their families and the international mountaineering community during this difficult time.
As more information becomes available, one oddity immediately stands out. The large avalanche (or avalanches; some sources report two) occurred around 9:20 am on Thursday. However, no alarm went out until almost 13 hours later, even though each team has staff at Base Camp and other climbers are often there, too.
“We only found out at 10 pm,” Naila Kiani of the Alpine Club of Pakistan told ExplorersWeb. Thus, the entire day, when a prompt response might have allowed helicopters to reach the site before dark, was lost. “We are all shocked,” Kiani said.
There were four teams on the mountain — Sohail Sakhi of Pakistan with client Malory Weis of the U.S., Nirmal Purja leading the EliteExped team, an Imagine Nepal team (without leader Mingma G, who is currently on K2), and a Seven Summit Treks group.
Another view of the latest locations of the climbers as registered on their trackers, on a 3D image of Broad Peak. Compilation: Samson Sharaf
We are still waiting for details, especially about the state of the missing climbers. There has been no contact with any of them since the avalanche.
However, the climbers’ trackers we have access to reveal a concerning pattern: they all show that the climber stopped their ascent around 9:30 am Pakistan time and then fell several hundred meters.
Nirmal Purja’s tracker on Broad Peak yesterday.
Mallory Geis’s tracker.
Nadhiraa Alharthy of Oman’s tracker.
Two helicopters will fly to Broad Peak on Friday, loaded with rescuers and oxygen.
According to Imagine Nepal, the climbers on Broad Peak had reached Camp 2 on Wednesday. The plan was to go to Camp 3 on Thursday, then, after a short break, continue to the summit on Friday. The avalanche seems to have hit the climbers between Camps 2 and 3, at around 6,660m. Read a climber’s guide to Broad Peak here.
NIrmal Purja on the summit of Everest. Photo: EliteExped
As for Nirmal Purja, a recent post on social media suggested that Broad Peak was a last-minute decision to break a record. He wrote:
This was never the plan. Initially, the plan was to climb just G2 [Gasherbrum II]. But just before setting off for Pakistan, I ran the numbers on my 8,000m summits. That’s when it hit me: If I tick off Broad Peak whilst I’m here , only one remains, Cho Oyu. Then I become the FIRST person in history to climb all 14 eight-thousanders twice without oxygen.
