Nirmal Purja — a world-renowned climber who gained fame on the hit Netflix documentary ’14 Peaks’– has died … according to a statement from his company.
Elite Exped — a travel agency founded by Purja and several others which takes climbers on treks up and down famous mountains — announced the news on Instagram Saturday morning.
Waiting for your permission to load the Instagram Media.
The company states Purja died in an avalanche on Broad Peak — a famed mountain on the Pakistan-China border.
He’s remembered by Elite Exped as “one of mountaineering’s greatest climbers” who inspired millions of others to chase their dreams.
According to local officials … Nirmal’s climbing team began their ascent on Wednesday and were last heard from Thursday around 9 AM. A rescue mission began Friday morning. 10 people — six Nepali citizens and four foreign climbers including American Sarah Mallory Geis — were killed in the avalanche.
Nirmal was the subject of the documentary “14 Peaks: Nothing Is Impossible” … in which he and his team attempted to climb all 14 mountains with elevation greater than 8,000 meters — or a little over 26K feet — in a record seven months. This list includes Mount Everest, K2, and Broad Peak.
Nirmal was 43.
RIP