A glacial collapse on the north side of Langtang Lirung, a 23,734-foot peak near Nepal’s border with Tibet, triggered a 60-mile flood of water, mud, and debris on Wednesday morning. By Friday, Nepal’s National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority reported 579 confirmed deaths, with many more still missing.
More than 4,000 miles away, in Dorset, England, family and friends gathered the same morning to mourn a separate loss: celebrated Nepali mountaineer Nirmal Purja, known widely as Nimsdai. Among those present was Mingma Gyalje Sherpa, one of Nepal’s leading climbers and founder of the expedition company Imagine Nepal. Purja and nine other climbers were killed in an avalanche on Broad Peak in Pakistan’s Karakoram range on July 30, and Mingma Sherpa led the expedition that recovered Purja’s body.
The two disasters, occurring within a month of each other across the mountainous stretch running from Pakistan through Nepal, have unfolded in a region where scientists, climbers, and trekkers have increasingly observed accelerating loss of snow and ice. For Nepal, the stakes extend well beyond the mountains themselves: tourism accounts for 6.1 percent of the country’s economy and supported roughly 1.2 million jobs in 2023, about 15 percent of total employment, according to World Bank figures.
