Seldom Is Not Never...

I haven't written about the mountains lately. Somehow, I haven't been able to. These majestic creations have captivated me for so long that I can no longer remember when they first left their mark on me. It is unfortunate that it took a tragedy to set the words free again, pouring onto the page like a raging avalanche that sweeps away everything in its path.

Nims Dai—Nirmal Purja—is an extraordinary man, one of the most recognizable faces in modern mountaineering. He stands head and shoulders above many of his contemporaries, seemingly destined to be remembered among the greatest climbers of all time.

Then there is Broad Peak, often described as the gentlest of the world's fourteen eight-thousanders, forever living in the shadow of its savage neighbour, K2. On a clear day, the pairing of such a climber with such a mountain seldom makes headlines. But in the mountains, seldom is never the same as never.

The human desire to challenge nature has always drawn people to these slopes of rock, ice, and silence. Some return with stories etched into their souls. Others become part of the mountain's own story, never to return.

We live in a world that measures everything in probabilities, likelihoods, impacts, and statistics. Yet the mountains have never cared for our calculations. They obey no models, no forecasts, and no assumptions. On 30 July 2026, one of those rare, low-probability but devastatingly high-impact moments unfolded. One instant, it was another climbing expedition pursuing a dream above the clouds. The next, it had become a desperate search-and-rescue operation.

Between those two moments lay a single, terrifying event: a massive avalanche that swept away eleven climbers, among them Nirmal Purja.

As the search continues and more bodies are recovered, hope refuses to surrender quietly. We find ourselves wishing for one final summit push against impossible odds—from the man who once embraced the impossible and called it Project Possible.

Will we see him once more, standing triumphantly among the highest peaks on Earth? Or has he already become part of the mountains themselves, his spirit forever wandering through the silent throne room of the mountain gods, where legends are no longer remembered—they simply belong?