The man who broke all climbing records – and died on the mountain: The turbulent life of the Netflix superstar
He grew up in poverty in Nepal, served in the British Special Forces, and turned local climbers from support staff into the main stars. Nirmal "Nimsdai" Purja conquered the world's 14 highest peaks in 189 days, led the first winter ascent of K2, and became an international icon thanks to Netflix. Alongside his achievements, he faced sharp criticism and serious allegations, which he denied. This past weekend, his extraordinary story came to a cruel end in an avalanche on Broad Peak.
Nirmal "Nimsdai" Purja dedicated his life to proving that the word "impossible" is often just an excuse. He climbed faster, higher, and sometimes with courage that seemed almost inconceivable. He survived battles, rescues at altitudes of thousands of meters, extreme cold, and oxygen deprivation, breaking records that seemed imaginary until his arrival.
However, even one of the most experienced and famous climbers in the world could not always win. Last Thursday, a group of ten climbers was swept away by a massive avalanche on Broad Peak in northern Pakistan. Among the climbers was Purja, who led the expedition on behalf of his climbing company, Elite Exped. For nearly two days, a glimmer of hope remained: his tracking device showed some movement after the fall, helicopters were scrambled to the area, and rescue teams tried to reach the missing by land. On Saturday, the official announcement came: Purja and his nine expedition companions did not survive.
A Revolution in the Himalayas
The disaster claimed the life of the Netflix star and one of the greatest climbing record-holders of his generation. It cut short the story of the man who revolutionized the way the world looks at the Himalayas and the people who make climbing there possible. For decades, Sherpas and Nepalese guides were presented as supporting characters in the heroic stories of Western climbers. They carried the gear, opened the routes, installed the ropes, and risked their lives – but the clients received the glory.
Purja reversed this hierarchy. He placed Nepalese climbers at the center, made them the leaders of the expeditions, and did not hide the fact that without them, many of the famous peak conquerors would never have reached the top. He did not seek recognition as the staff member behind the hero, but demanded to be the hero himself. The Netflix film, the achievements, and his direct language turned the Nepalese alpinist into an international star of a magnitude previously reserved only for Western climbers.
From Poverty to Special Forces
Purja was born on July 25, 1983, in the village of Dana, Nepal. His parents belonged to different castes, and his family was so poor that as a child he didn't even have flip-flops. In 2003, he joined the Gurkha Brigade of the British Army, and later was accepted into the Special Boat Service, the Royal Navy's special forces unit. He served a total of 16 years in the British Army, which formed the basis of his climbing method: treating expeditions like military operations with meticulous task distribution and logistical planning.
His "Project Possible" – climbing all 14 peaks over 8,000 meters in 189 days – changed the industry forever. While the record was later broken, it was Purja who proved that a project measured in years could be turned into an operation of months.
The Shadow of Success
Purja's story was not a clean fairy tale. As he accumulated money and power, claims against him increased: criticism of high expedition prices, safety concerns, and serious allegations from two women in 2024 regarding sexual misconduct. Purja strongly denied these claims, defining them as false and defamatory, but the reputational damage was immediate.
His death on Broad Peak serves as a reminder of the limit even he could not move. At an altitude where the body gradually breaks down and weather changes within minutes, experience is not an insurance policy. Purja built a career on the belief that there is nothing beyond human ability. Broad Peak provided the mountain's cruel answer: perhaps there is nothing impossible, but no human is invincible.
