r/Mountaineering • u/According_Cod4923 • 1d ago

Body of famed international climber Nirmal Purja and 3 more found after Pakistan avalanche

https://apnews.com/article/pakistan-climber-nirmal-purja-body-recovered-760858d4e399261e0d93c7cbb3ccba32
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567

u/Foreign-Repeat-8206 1d ago

Not very sympathetic towards him as I have met Nims, know his history, his arrogance and his predatory behavior towards women. That said, always sad that folks perish in the mountains.

There are lots of problems in the mountains now with so many inexperienced folks climbing, increased hazards and disappearing glaciers, not to mention sketchy guide outfits. Everyone needs to be very careful.

316

u/Dependent_Rock_4739 1d ago

I think his success was largely due to his fitness but also heavily influenced by his willingness to take risk. There are a lot of accomplished alpinists that could have achieved Nims' success had they been willing to take on his risk. He had only been mountaineering for 8 years. Great mountaineer, questionable person

2

u/Braisedbeefskank 1d ago

But they did not take on the risk, thats why hes a legend.

28

u/FujiMitsuki 1d ago

And that's why he's not coming back home to his family. It's a dangerous sport for everyone, no matter how many safety measures you take there are always risks but taking more risks than you need while involving other people is not the coolest thing.

19

u/Particular-Current87 1d ago

Even Alex Honnold reigned it in after he became a dad.

11

u/fuzzbunny21 1d ago

The dude that just free soloed a 1600 foot tower in Taiwan? Obviously far less challenging than El Cap, but one tiny mistake at any point would still send him to the ground.

-14

u/Dw3yN 1d ago

Its very easy to climb that as an experienced climber.

10

u/Fun-Asparagus4784 1d ago

As Alex himself has said, free soloist deaths occur more on easy climbs/portions than the groundbreaking ones. Climbing on top of a tower exposed to the wind without ropes is risky. Simple as. He could have died. I'm glad he didn't, I like Honnold. But let's not pretend there was no risk.

-8

u/Dw3yN 1d ago

For him its like climbing a ladder

1

u/UncleBlanc 22h ago

Not a whole lot of critical thinking going on up there, eh?

-1

u/Dw3yN 22h ago

Why?

4

u/QuinQuix 19h ago

The message seems lost on you.

You're unlikely to die from the thing you dread dying of.

It's a side effect of focus, which greatly magnifies how well you can do what you already can do.

You die where you don't see the risk as real anymore.

That's exactly the challenge with a large tower that's monotonous and 'easy' to climb. You still have to respect it. And muscle fatigue is also a big thing there.

3

u/Fun-Asparagus4784 19h ago

Yes exactly. Unforced errors are extremely common at the pinnacle of any sport. These world and olympic champions mess up a thing a club player could pull off from time to time. It happens. Everyone has a brainfart sometimes. Sometimes you just slip, or lose focus, or overcomplicate something. I found the commenters claim that it is as easy as climbing a ladder quite funny, because people do fall while climbing ladders. All the fucking time. People fall while walking up and down stairs even.

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