The death of well-known mountaineer Pur Bahadur Gurung (Yukta) during an attempt to climb Pakistan’s 8,047-metre Broad Peak has been confirmed. The Alpine Club of Pakistan confirmed the news. According to the club, the bodies of four people were found, among them an Omani climber, Nadhira Al Harthy, and Nepali climber Pur Bahadur Gurung, both of whom were identified. The Alpine Club of Pakistan is the official body overseeing mountaineering in the country. The Nepal National Mountain Guide Association has also confirmed that Yukta lost his life in an avalanche on the peak.
Who was Yukta?
Born in Lapu Village, Dharche Rural Municipality-4 in northern Gorkha, he spent his childhood in the shadow of the Himalayas. Born in 1989, he had once dreamed of joining the British Army. With that dream cut short by the armed conflict, he left home at a young age to work at a hotel in Manang, where he came into contact with trekking guides and, drawn to the idea of becoming one himself, moved to Kathmandu.
“He started as a porter in 2009,” said his colleague Tulsi Singh Gurung. “Gradually he began working as a kitchen helper for camping groups.”
From there, he moved up to assistant guide, then trekking guide, and eventually planning guide, Tulsi Singh said. According to him, Yukta had passed the International Mountain Guide certification only this past December.
“He had qualified as an International Mountain Guide through the Nepal National Mountain Guide Association, but today we had to hear this tragic news,” he says. Tulsi Singh, who is also from Lapu, serves as the association’s president.
Yukta had summited Everest more times than anyone from the Gurung community, with ten successful ascents to his name. He first climbed Everest in 2011. He had also successfully climbed 12 of the world’s 8,000-metre peaks.
“There are 14 peaks in the world above 8,000 metres, eight of which are in Nepal,” Tulsi Singh says. “He had climbed all but two of them.”
He had also set a record by summiting Pakistan’s K2 within 24 hours. He was regularly involved in rescue operations for tourists stranded in the mountains.
Having grown up in the mountains, he met his end there too, at the age of 37. He had left Nepal three weeks earlier to attempt Broad Peak in Pakistan, a journey from which he would never return.
