Climber Nirmal Purja, also known as Nims, and several others were tragically killed in an avalanche on Pakistan's Broad Peak in July. The incident occurred as Nims and his team were ascending the mountain. Drone images initially suggested no survivors, but the bodies of Nims, Kili Pemba Sherpa (Kilu), and others were later recovered. Mingma Gyalje Sherpa, a fellow climber and close friend of Nims, played a key role in the recovery mission. He described the moment he reached their bodies, saying, "I told them: 'It's ok. You don't have to be here in the cold anymore.'" He promised to bring them home. Nims and Mingma G met in 2021 while part of the first team to summit K2, the world's second-highest mountain, during winter. Nims was a former Gurkha and British Special Forces soldier who became a globally renowned mountaineer. He gained fame through his Netflix documentary, 14 Peaks, in which he climbed all 14 of the world's highest mountains in under six months. However, he faced criticism for his focus on records and the commercialization of his climbs. In 2024, the New York Times published sexual misconduct allegations from two women, which Nims denied through his lawyer, who called the claims "false and defamatory." Mingma G initially had reservations about Nims but later described him as "very kind-hearted, one of the most beautiful human beings I've met." The two often climbed together around the world, with Nims frequently on Everest. This summer, they met again in the Karakoram range, where they planned to split up for separate climbs—Nims heading to Broad Peak and Mingma G to K2. Nims had asked Mingma G to wait a day for a final meeting, but it never happened. On July 30, the weather was clear and calm. Mingma G was leading a team up K2, while Nims’s group was part of a larger party of 10 climbers heading up Broad Peak. Around 08:30, Nims’s team spoke with Kili Pemba Sherpa, a childhood friend and expert climber. Conditions looked good, and they planned to check in again at the next camp. Later that day, a massive avalanche struck Broad Peak, described as a "thundercrack." The cause is still under investigation, but the Alpine Club of Pakistan suggests it was due to the collapse of an ice slab, unrelated to snowfall. Despite efforts to contact them, the Broad Peak climbers were never heard from again, and their bodies were later found by a drone.