When an avalanche killed climber Nirmal Purja, his friends faced the hardest mission of all

As he picked his way past the frozen slope towards two bodies, Mingma Gyalje Sherpa knew his friends were gone.

Together, the three of them had climbed the world's highest peaks, under crisp mountain skies and in treacherous snowstorms. Nirmal Purja and Kili Pemba Sherpa were two of the strongest climbers Mingma G had ever known.

But this July, an avalanche swept through Pakistan's Broad Peak while the two were on their way up, engulfing everything in its path.

And yet, as Mingma G came closer to the fluorescent down suits, sharp against the snow, he couldn't shake the idea they were waiting for him.

"I told them: 'It's ok. You don't have to be here in the cold anymore.'"

Speaking to the BBC in Islamabad, he recalls the terrible moment he reached for their bodies.

Holding one of them, he promised: "I'm here to take you guys home."

Mingma G and Nirmal Purja met in Pakistan in 2021, where they were part of the first team to summit the world's second-highest mountain, K2, during winter .