Last rites of Nepali mountaineer Pur Bahadur Gurung held in Kathmandu

Last rites of Nepali mountaineer Pur Bahadur Gurung (Yukta) were performed in Kathmandu. The 10-time Everest summiteer died during an expedition on Broad Peak in Pakistan. His mortal remains were brought back for the cremation at Swayambhu.

Last rites of Nepali mountaineer Pur Bahadur Gurung (Yukta), who died during an expedition on 8,047-metre Broad Peak, were performed in Kathmandu on Friday. The cremation took place at Swayambhu in the presence of family members, relatives, Home Minister Sudan Gurung, Nepali Congress President Gagan Thapa, members of the mountaineering community and well-wishers. The funeral was led by shamans, who conducted the rituals after circumambulating the Swayambhunath Stupa, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and a pilgrimage site for Buddhists.

A Record-Breaking Career

Gurung is the first among the five Nepali climbers who perished in the Broad Peak avalanche. His mortal remains were brought to Kathmandu on August 6. The 10-time Everest summiteer, who holds the record for the highest number of Everest ascents among members of the Gurung community in Nepal, was flown from Pakistan to Kathmandu via Qatar. Gurung also holds the record for the highest number of Everest summits by a non-Sherpa climber from Nepal.

Early Life and Career Beginnings

Born on December 24, 1988, in Laprak, Gorkha district, Pur Bahadur Gurung, commonly known as "Yukta", grew up surrounded by the Himalayas throughout his childhood. Driven by the dream of becoming a British Gurkha, Gurung, who later rose to fame, spent the early years of his adulthood working at a hotel in the nearby district of Manang. His time there ignited his interest in becoming a trekking guide, which ultimately brought him to the capital, Kathmandu, to become a mountain guide.

Everest and the 8,000ers

Working as a porter in 2009, he summited Mount Everest for the first time in 2011. He returned to Everest in 2017, 2018 and 2019, then twice in 2022, and again in 2024. He stood atop the Everest summit on May 19 and October 15, 2025, with his tenth and final summit of the world's highest peak on May 20. Gurung did not limit himself to Mount Everest. He went on to climb 12 of the world's 14 mountains above 8,000 metres, having climbed all but two of them. Among his most remarkable feats was climbing K2 in just 24 hours, a pace that stunned even experienced mountaineers. This year, in a single season, he climbed three separate 8,000-metre peaks.

The Final Expedition

The famed mountaineer had, a few months earlier, earned the 'International Mountain Guide' certification through the Nepal National Mountain Guide Association, following the demanding IFMGA examination process. On Broad Peak, he was a member of Nirmal Purja's Elite Exped expedition team, which was hit by an avalanche at the end of July. Three weeks earlier, the Nepali climber had travelled to Pakistan for the Broad Peak expedition after failing to obtain permission to climb Shishapangma in Tibet. (ANI)

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