An American climber is dead and a world-renowned climber is among those still missing after an avalanche on one of the world's highest mountains. Ten people were caught in the avalanche on Broad Peak in Pakistan. Rescuers on Friday recovered three bodies, reports the AP, including that of US climber Mallory Geis, the only American on the mountain. Rescue operations have halted for the day amid bad weather and will resume on Saturday. The BBC reports that drones appear to have spotted most or all of the remaining missing, their conditions unknown.
The most well-known name among the missing is that of 43-year-old Nirmal Purja, who was featured in the 2021 Netflix documentary 14 Peaks: Nothing Is Impossible, per People. Purja had been leading a three-person team toward the 26,400-foot summit when the avalanche hit, according to Elite Exped director Mingma Gyabu Sherpa, reports the New York Times. GPS trackers linked to Purja and Pakistani climber Sohail Sakhi, who was guiding Geis, showed movement Friday, raising slim hopes.
Purja, a former British Special Forces soldier and one of high-altitude climbing's most prominent figures, has twice completed all 14 of the world's 8,000-meter peaks, most recently without supplemental oxygen. In a social media post before this climb, he wrote:
- "Broad Peak, I ask for nothing but safe passage up and back down. I take zero mountains for granted. Not one."
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