The mountains, it turns out, are not always a place of serene contemplation. On Thursday, an avalanche on Pakistan's Broad Peak, the world's 12th-highest mountain at 8,047 metres (26,400ft), triggered a search for a 10-person expedition led by the renowned Nepal-born climber Nirmal Purja. The Alpine Club of Pakistan initially reported four bodies located, then clarified - with the precision of a group that has just had a very stressful day - that they had actually found two bodies and one body part. The deceased were identified as Nadhira Ahmed Abdullah Al Harthy from Oman and Pur Bahadur Gurung from Nepal.
Meanwhile, seven other climbers were spotted by aerial drones, though their condition remains a mystery until rescue efforts resume on Saturday - weather permitting, because the search was suspended overnight due to poor conditions. The final climber's location is unknown, and the GPS tracker belonging to one missing member was found smashed, leading rescuers to suspect that the movement they'd seen earlier was just a glitch. Because of course it was.
The Alpine Club of Pakistan told the BBC that three trackers, including Purja's, had shown movement, but a helicopter couldn't see anything at those spots. Later, one tracker was found broken, which explained the phantom signals. The search will resume at sunrise, but Naila Kiani, the club's communications lead, noted that after more than 24 hours in such conditions, survival chances are 'very slim' - though she added, with the optimism of someone who knows mountaineering, that 'miracles do happen'.
Purja, a former British Army soldier and Special Boat Service member, is famous for climbing all 14 of the world's 8,000-metre-plus peaks in just over six months in 2019. His expedition team includes some notable names: American Mallory Geis, who had just bought new boots for her 'first big kid climbing expedition in Pakistan'; Pakistani national Sohail Sakhi, whose tracker was found smashed and who has not yet been spotted; Pur Bahadur Gurung (also known as Yukta), a certified mountain guide close to completing the 14 peaks challenge; and Kili Pemba Sherpa, who has summited Everest 15 times and was part of the historic K2 winter expedition in 2021, as well as guiding double amputee Xia Boyu to the Everest summit in 2018.
Broad Peak, which was first climbed in 1957 by an Austrian expedition, is considered one of the more challenging mountains, and it has claimed dozens of lives over the years. Its deadliest year was 2013, when at least six fatalities occurred. The Pakistan army has sent two rescue helicopters with personnel and equipment, and the Alpine Club expressed solidarity with the families and the international mountaineering community. The club also clarified that a previous statement about four bodies was a miscommunication - because in a crisis, clarity is a luxury.
As for Purja, he's no stranger to extreme challenges: he joined the British Army in 2003 and the Special Boat Service in 2009, and his first peak was Lobuche East (6,119m) in 2012, which he summited instead of going back to Kathmandu. Now, the world waits to see if he and his team can beat the odds on Broad Peak. As Kiani said, miracles do happen - but they're not guaranteed.