Nims Purja posts video to prove foul play atop Everest

Did someone cut the fixed rope used by hundreds of climbers to ascend Mount Everest?

That’s the claim made by Nirmal “Nims” Purja, an expedition leader who said his team members discovered the sliced rope during a summit push on Monday. Later that day, another team successfully reached the summit using the fixed ropes, leading to accusations that Purja had invented the story for personal gain.

On Monday, the Nepalese government   announced an investigationPurja for “disseminating misinformation with the intention of getting popularity.”

Nims Purja Video Evidence
But Purja fired back with some fresh video evidence on Wednesday morning, publishing an Instagram video showing the cut ropes and interviewing Sherpas from his company, Elite Exped. Other teams were able to summit because Purja’s team had already repaired the line, he said.

“They’re calling me a liar. That is the evidence of rope being cut,” Purja said as he showed a cut rope high on the mountain.

High-Altitude Allegations

Purja’s team first heard of the sliced rope on Sunday from another expedition company called  peak promotion. The outfit was retrieving a body when they reported a cut rope below the South Summit.

A day later, Purja’s team said it found the sliced rope exactly where Peak Promotion said it would be. In interviews, Sherpas with Elite Exped said that about 120 feet of rope had been cut and cast down the mountain. They discovered this lost section of rope on Monday between the mountain’s South Summit and a section known as the Balcony.

Everest ‘Rope Cutting’ Controversy

One Sherpa said he initially believed the rope must have been cut by a rock. But upon further inspection, he said it was clearly sliced by a knife.