#Nimsdai is the personal handle and brand of Nirmal Purja MBE — the Nepali-British mountaineer and former UK Special Boat Service operator who climbed all fourteen of the world’s 8,000-metre peaks in six months and six days in 2019, and who was killed in an avalanche on Pakistan’s Broad Peak on July 30, 2026 alongside nine other climbers. Across roughly a decade the tag was the anchor for his climbing content, his EliteExped guiding company, and the “Project Possible” expedition; from August 2026 onward it became the dominant tribute hashtag as Nepal, the UK, and the global climbing community mourned him.
Quick Facts
- Full name: Nirmal Purja Magar Pun MBE (“Nims”, “Nimsdai”)
- Born: 25 July 1983, Dana, Myagdi District, Nepal
- Died: 30 July 2026, Broad Peak, Karakoram, Pakistan (avalanche)
- Career highlights: UK Special Boat Service; Project Possible (2019 — all fourteen 8,000ers in 6 months, 6 days); first winter ascent of K2 (January 16, 2021)
- Books: Beyond Possible (2020)
- Film: 14 Peaks: Nothing Is Impossible (Netflix, 2021, dir. Torquil Jones)
- Honours: MBE (2018), advanced to Officer of the Order of the British Empire (2020)
Origin
Purja was born in a small village in Nepal’s Myagdi District in 1983 and served in the Gurkhas and then in the UK’s Special Boat Service, one of the first Nepalis to do so. He resigned his SBS commission in 2018 to attempt a project no one had funded him for: climbing all fourteen 8,000-metre peaks in a single year. He remortgaged his house, launched a public fundraising campaign, and took the handle @nimsdai on Instagram — a compression of “Nims” and the Nepali honorific dai (“older brother”). The account became the day-to-day feed for what he called “Project Possible.”
Project Possible
Starting on Annapurna I on April 23, 2019, Purja and a rotating all-Nepali team summited all fourteen 8,000-metre peaks in six months and six days, finishing on Shishapangma on October 29, 2019. The previous record, held by South Korean climber Kim Chang-ho, was seven years, ten months and six days. The compressed timeline drew as much attention for the logistics — helicopter shuttles between base camps, rapid summit windows, and Nepali sherpa leadership on every rope team — as for the mountaineering itself, and reset public expectations for the sport.
Cultural Impact
Purja became one of the most globally recognised mountaineers of his era, credited with pushing the Nepali sherpa community out of the background of Himalayan storytelling and into its lead roles. His January 16, 2021 first winter ascent of K2 with a ten-member all-Nepali team was celebrated inside Nepal as a national milestone; he later co-founded the guiding operation EliteExped and led high-altitude clients on repeat 8,000-metre summits. His Netflix documentary 14 Peaks: Nothing Is Impossible introduced him to a mainstream audience in 2021 and made #Nimsdai a discoverable brand outside climbing niches.
Broad Peak and Death
On July 30, 2026, Purja was killed on Broad Peak in the Karakoram along with nine other climbers in an avalanche between Camps 2 and 3, at roughly 6,600 m. The event, covered at #BroadPeakAvalanche, was confirmed the next day; recovery teams located his body at approximately 5,700 m on August 2, 2026. His final Instagram post — “Broad Peak, I ask for nothing but safe passage up and back down. I take zero mountains for granted. Not one.” — went viral in the wake of his death and was widely reshared as a tribute.
Legacy
Nepal’s Prime Minister Balendra Shah called Purja’s “history of courage, dedication and contribution” permanently inspirational; the mountaineering press, from ExplorersWeb to National Geographic, framed his death as the end of a defining chapter in modern 8,000-metre climbing. The #Nimsdai hashtag stayed active through August 2026 as a tribute channel and archive for his own posts, and Project Possible remains the reference point for any subsequent attempt at the fourteen-peak record.
Sources
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nirmal_Purja
- https://www.npr.org/2026/08/01/nx-s1-5916368/nirmal-purja-climbers-dead-avalanche
- https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/8/2/body-of-climber-nirmal-purja-six-others-recovered-after-pakistan-avalanche
- https://www.nationalgeographic.com/adventure/article/nims-purja-avalanche-broad-peak-himalayas
- https://everestchronicle.com/mountaineering-world-mourns-nimsdai-the-man-who-changed-mountaineering
- https://www.netflix.com/title/81464765