A tribute from the TempleFront family.
The Nepali climbers we lost
We remember them by name.
- Nirmal “Nimsdai” Purja — expedition leader
- Pur Bahadur Gurung (“Yukta”)
- Nima Sherpa
- Kili Pemba Sherpa (“Kilu”)
- Nawang Thindu Sherpa
- Gyaljen Sherpa (“Gyalu”)
We also hold in our hearts their fellow climbers who died alongside them: Nadhira Al Harthy of Oman, Sohail Sakhi of Pakistan, Mallory Geis of the United States, and Wang Zhong of China. The mountains do not know borders, and neither does grief.
What happened on Broad Peak
On 30 July 2026, an avalanche swept a ten-member expedition from the flank of Broad Peak — at 8,051 metres, the twelfth-highest mountain on earth, standing in the great Karakoram range of northern Pakistan. The climbers were caught around 6,600 metres, on the slope between Camp 2 and Camp 3, as they moved toward the summit. Search and rescue teams battled harsh weather and the terrible altitude for days. By 1 August, hope had gone; all ten were confirmed dead.
The expedition was led by Nirmal Purja — known across the world as Nimsdai — perhaps the most famous mountaineer Nepal has ever produced. In 2019 he climbed all fourteen of the world’s 8,000-metre peaks in an astonishing 189 days, shattering a record many believed untouchable, a feat told to the world in the Netflix film 14 Peaks: Nothing Is Impossible. A former soldier, a Gurkha son of Nepal, he used every ounce of his fame to do one thing above all: to make the world finally see the Sherpas and Nepali guides who make every great Himalayan ascent possible.
And it is exactly those men who fell with him.
A generation of Nepal’s finest
This is the part that is hardest for us to write. The five guides who died beside Nimsdai were not beginners or bystanders. They were among the most accomplished high-altitude climbers our country has ever raised — the quiet professionals who fix the ropes, break the trail, carry the loads, and turn other people’s dreams into summits, year after year, for a fraction of the recognition. In a single afternoon, the mountain took a generation of that talent.
If you have ever stood at Everest Base Camp, walked into the Annapurna Sanctuary, or watched the sun rise over the Himalaya, you have been carried there, in part, by men exactly like these. Every safe return home rests on their skill and their courage. They are the true heart of Nepali mountaineering, and their names deserve to be spoken as loudly as any summiteer’s.
The mountains gave them their calling. The mountains kept them. We will not forget what they gave to all of us.
From our family
We are a family that has spent our whole lives in the shadow of these peaks. We know the guides who go up, and we know the families who wait below for the message that says safe. Today that message did not come for six Nepali homes, and for four more families across the world. There are no words that can hold that weight.
We share this not as a business, but as fellow Nepalis and fellow lovers of the mountains — to grieve openly, to say their names, and to honour the profession that so much of our country’s spirit is built upon. To the families of Nimsdai, Yukta, Nima, Kilu, Nawang, and Gyalu, and to the families of Nadhira, Sohail, Mallory, and Wang Zhong: our deepest condolences. You are in our prayers.
Om Shanti. May they rest in peace, and may the mountains hold them gently.
