The Broad Peak Decision That Killed Nirmal Purja and the 9 Other Climbers

On July 30, 2026, an avalanche on Broad Peak in Pakistan's Karakoram swept ten climbers down the mountain, and nearly every headline led with a single name: Nirmal Purja. But nine other people died on that slope in the same instant, and most of them were the working guides who fix the ropes and break trail so everyone else can climb. They came from four separate expeditions that all pushed onto the same fresh snow other professionals had already backed away from. This is the part the coverage rushed past: who the other nine were, why four teams independently made the same fatal call, the ten hours that passed before anyone knew they were gone, and the snowpack decision that - one company's defense aside - no operator has honestly explained. #BroadPeak #NirmalPurja #Karakoram