American climber Mallory Geis was chasing a dream at 26,000 feet. Nirmal Purja, who had climbed all 14 of the world’s 8,000-meter peaks, was leading the team of dreamers Geis was part of.
None came back.
The avalanche on Broad Peak, at roughly 21,000 feet in Pakistan’s Karakoram Range, swept away Geis, a woman who had just closed her Pilates studio in San Antonio to chase a dream she’d described with three words: helmets, harnesses, crampons.
Team leader Purja, the famed Nepali mountaineer who had scaled all 14 of the world’s highest peaks in a short span, was among the four climbers confirmed dead by Pakistani authorities.
The victims now publicly identified include: Mallory Geis, 39, from Texas. Nirmal “Nims” Purja, the Nepali mountaineer whose exploits became a Netflix documentary. Nadhira Ahmed Abdullah Al Harthy of Oman. Pur Bahadur Gurung of Nepal.
The identities of six other climbers are still being confirmed.
Broad Peak, the 12th-highest mountain on Earth, had claimed another toll. First summited in 1957, it has since become a monument to ambition — and to its limits. In 2013, at least six climbers died on its slopes.
For Geis, the journey had begun as a departure. She had spent years building a Pilates business in San Antonio, serving on the board of San Antonio Sports, anchoring herself in a community that now remembers her “bold spirit” and “generosity.” Then, months ago, she closed the doors. She told friends her future was elsewhere — at altitude, on ice, in the thin air where ordinary rules of survival no longer apply.
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She had never attempted an 8,000-meter peak before. Broad Peak was her first.
In a brief statement, Geis’ family asked for privacy. They called her “a bright light” and said she would be “profoundly missed.” They did not offer interviews. They did not explain why she had chosen this path. They simply asked to be left with their grief.
San Antonio Sports, where Geis had once helped bring major events to her city, released its own tribute: “The impact she made in our community will never be forgotten.”
Purja’s company, Elite Expeditions, confirmed the news with a phrase that has become almost ritual in the high-altitude world: profound sadness and immense heartbreak. This time, unlike so many of his previous expeditions, there was no last-minute rescue, no improbable survival story, no triumphant return to base camp.
JUST IN: 39-year-old US woman Sarah Mallory Geis killed after avalanche strikes 10-member Broad Peak expedition in Pakistan; renowned climber Nirmal Purja missing pic.twitter.com/ud8Hf9t6OV
— Rapid Report (@RapidReport2025) August 1, 2026
Purja had lost count of how many times he’d stood above 8,000 meters. The former Gurkha and British Special Boat Service soldier had become a global figure not because he survived the mountains, but because he dominated them.
His 2019 sprint through all 14 of the world’s tallest peaks wasn’t just a record — it was a redefinition of human endurance. The Netflix film 14 Peaks made him a household name.
But the Karakoram doesn’t care about documentaries.
The same range that draws the world’s best climbers also breeds weather that can shift in minutes, avalanches that fall without warning, and altitudes that kill even the fittest.
The team had reached roughly 21,000 feet — high enough that the body begins to deteriorate, low enough that the mountain still had thousands of feet of ice and rock above them.
Then the snow moved.
Rescue crews have recovered four bodies so far. The search continues, though hope has long since faded. Pakistani authorities confirmed Geis, Al Harthy and Gurung among the dead. The identities of the remaining victims are still being formally confirmed.
Muhammad Luqman is Associate Editor at Views News Now. He writes on wide-ranging issues including economy, South Asia, the Middle East, agriculture, economy and innovation. Luqman has worked some of the leading news organizations and won acclaim for his original and research-based works.
Huma Nisar is Associate Editor at Views and News. She also writes opinion articles on health, society and diet.
