Nirmal Purja

(1983 - 2026)

Nirmal Purja (25 July, 1983 – 30 July, 2026) was a Nepalese-British mountaineer. Before beginning a career in mountaineering, he served in the British Army with the Brigade of Gurkhas and later in the Special Boat Service (SBS), the special forces unit of the Royal Navy. Purja was notable for having climbed all 14 eight-thousands peaks in six months and six days with the aid of bottled oxygen between April and October 2019. Purja was the first person to reach the summits of Mount Everest, Lhotse, and Makalu within 48 hours. In 2021, he and a team of nine other Nepalese climbers completed the first winter ascent of K2. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest mountaineers in history and a pioneer of modern mountaineering. In July 2026, Purja and nine other climbers died in an avalanche on Pakistan's Broad Peak.