Other big mountaineering names also among the missingpublished at 08:39 BST
Pradeep Bashyal
BBC Nepali, Kathmandu
Besides Nirmal Purja, there are a few other big names among the missing climbers, including Pur Bahadur Gurung – also known as Yukta – and Kili Pemba Sherpa.
Yukta is certified by the International Federation of Mountain Guides
Associations (IFMGA), and is very close to completing the 14
peaks challenge, where climbers attempt to summit the world’s 14 mountains that rise at least 8,000m above sea level.
Just last spring Yukta summited Nepal’s three “eight-thousanders”, and by the end of that season had 10 Everest ascents and 12 eight-thousanders to his name.
He was also part of the team that discovered a century-old shoe with the
inscription “A.C. Irvine”, believed to be of British climber Andrew
“Sandy” Irvine, who vanished on Everest with George
Mallory in 1924.
Kili Pemba has so far summited Everest 15 times. In 2021 he was a member of a historic K2 winter expedition, alongwith several Nepali
climbers including Nirmal Purja.
Kili Pemba is also the guide who led double amputee Xia
Boyu to summit Everest in 2018. Xia, a Chinese climber, had lost both legs decades
earlier while attempting to reach Everest’s summit.
