Mountaineer Nirmal Purja

[MonkeyBusiness]

Confirmed dead after avalanche.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/clyljq79kdko

This is awful. The bloke was super human.

[_Rodders_]

Reminds me of Uli Steck. Doesn't matter how good you are. When you're in the high mountains and your time is up, that's it.

[JimmyConwayNW]

Sad story, but it was a life that was lived to the fullest pushing the boundaries. To go doing something you love at least means you have lived.

I enjoyed his documentary and his posts.

[gregs656]

Ahh that’s sad. There is a good interview with him on The Grey NATO podcast.

[Lotobear]

Not quite the paragon TBF

[knk]

An incredible mountaineer.
Not without his controversy. The allegations were mostly credible.
The behaviour he was accused of takes nothing from his achievements in the mountains, especially his role in re-defining rescue abilities and expectations in the death zone. They do make him a complex character who should not simply be lauded without perspective.

[wc98]

_Rodders_ said:

Reminds me of Uli Steck. Doesn't matter how good you are. When you're in the high mountains and your time is up, that's it.

Nah, Uli was superhuman but didn't let hubris get paying clients killed. All the other teams at lower camps made the decision to turn back as the fresh snow fall made it dangerous. This accident was easily avoidable.

[oddman]

wc98 said:

_Rodders_ said:

Reminds me of Uli Steck. Doesn't matter how good you are. When you're in the high mountains and your time is up, that's it.

Nah, Uli was superhuman but didn't let hubris get paying clients killed. All the other teams at lower camps made the decision to turn back as the fresh snow fall made it dangerous. This accident was easily avoidable.

Quite. My mate who is a retired UIAGM Mountain Guide says, 'There are bold guides and old guides but no old bold guides.'

Anyone with any experience of high mountain terrain who watched the Netflix doco and saw what he risked to get the record for the 8000m peaks could see this coming. It made me queasy.

He had a relatively short apprenticeship in mountaineering, beginning in 2012 in the Himalayas and wasn't a certified guide. Makes you wonder had he taken the more conventional route of racking up experience in lesser ranges before training and demonstrating the skills and aptitude then qualifying as a professional guide, things might have turned out differently.

[J6542]

A video explaining how the accident occurred, with footage of the avalanche. And explaining the rescue attempt.

https://youtu.be/2P5eSt65rZA?si=cNHXubAaz-NvsacG