Mingma David Sherpa, Nirmal “Nims Dai” Purja’s longtime climbing partner, close friend, and co-founder of Elite Exped, has shared a deeply personal tribute following Nims Dai’s death on Broad Peak.
For Mingma David, Nims was far more than a climbing partner. They climbed together, built a company together, shared some of Nepal’s greatest mountaineering moments, and, as they often described publicly, became like brothers.
Photo: Mingma David Sherpa / Facebook
Mingma David says he understood closely the pain and challenges Nims experienced during his ascent of Lobuche in 2012. From that experience, he says, Nims developed a dream: that the sacrifice, hard work, dedication, and courage of Sherpas and Nepali high-altitude climbers should receive the respect they deserve, and that their voices should be heard around the world.
That dream became a lifelong journey.
Mingma David was alongside Nims during many of the most important chapters of that journey, including Project Possible in 2019, when Nims set out to climb all 14 of the world’s 8,000-metre peaks in record time. Their partnership continued through the historic first winter ascent of K2 in January 2021, when an all-Nepali team stood on the summit together and raised the Nepali flag.
Photo: Mingma David Sherpa / Facebook
For Mingma David, the K2 Winter expedition was much more than another mountaineering achievement. Ten Nepali climbers successfully reached the summit in that historic winter ascent, creating a moment of extraordinary national pride. The plan to stand on the summit together, carrying the Nepali flag and singing Nepal’s national anthem, was Nims Dai’s own vision.
That historic journey is now also being preserved through the K2 Winter documentary film, which will tell the story of the expedition—the brutal −65°C cold, the struggle, courage, determination, and human willpower that carried the Nepali team toward the summit.
Mingma David recalls one sentence Nims said after completing the 14 peaks at Kathmandu airport:
“If I were a foreigner, I would probably be ten times more popular than I am today.”
For Mingma, those words carried both the pain of a Nepali climber who felt his achievements had not received the recognition they deserved and the deep love Nims had for Nepal.
Project Possible was never only about climbing mountains. It was about showing the world what Nepal and Nepalis were capable of.
Nims also wanted his work to create opportunities for the people who support mountaineering from the ground up. One of the projects that made him particularly happy was the Lobuche Porter House, built in cooperation with the local government to provide accommodation, food, and medical facilities for 84 porters.
His dreams extended beyond climbing. Through the 3×14 Hat-Trick Project, he wanted to raise funds for charitable work through the Nims Dai Foundation. He was also involved in advocacy for equal rights and justice for Gurkhas in the United Kingdom.
For Mingma David, these projects were part of the same legacy: using mountaineering not simply to break records, but to create change.
When the Broad Peak avalanche struck on July 30, it took Nims physically away from those who loved him. But Mingma David says it can never take him away from their memories.
He also remembers another devastating loss in his own life his brother Tenzing Sherpa, whom he lost on September 21, 2022. Losing Tenzing and now losing Nims, he says, are among the most painful events of his life.
Nims and Mingma David’s relationship was built over years of extreme climbs, shared risks, business, friendship, and a common belief in the future of Nepali mountaineering.
Today, Mingma David is left not only with memories of a brother and climbing partner, but with the responsibility of carrying forward some of the dreams they once shared.
Nims Dai may no longer be standing beside him on the mountains.
But his dreams remain. His footsteps remain.
The Nepali flag he carried remains. And the voice he raised for the recognition and dignity of Sherpas and Nepali climbers lives on. “Your absence will always be felt, but your dreams will remain alive in my heart,” says Mingma David Sherpa.
