04/08/2026
Death of an infection.
I was happily wandering the Italian Alps with the 86-year-old Stefano Borsi, a genuine legend who through his absolute disregard for social media has inspired hundreds of people, when word flooded the internet that Nims had gotten himself, his crew and his clients killed on Broad Peak.
I had known Nims, for over a decade and witnessed, first hand, his transformation from being an easy-going expedition leader to an egotistical social media infection during long expeditions on Ama Dablam, Cho Oyu, Everest and in Antarctica. We partied hard to celebrate our various successes together and were always glad to bump into each other. We’d give each other a long man-hug whenever we’d meet. He always called me Rolfe Dai and I must confess to falling for his charm when he did so.
Since my own guiding style encourages clients to adopt a degree of self-sufficiency I initially bought into his, “giving up is not in the blood’ ethos. Exactly what is needed I thought. Then the bodies started to fall. The warning sign came for me, when Nims boasted on social media how he’d taken his team on a summit bid on Mount Everest in extremely poor conditions. “Whoa! Slow down dude!” I thought at the time. Then came news of Nim’s accident on Aconcagua, where every other team roped up for icy conditions on steep terrain and where his un-roped client took a huge fall and had to have his leg amputated as a consequence. Then the news came of his four deaths on an expedition to Shishapangma. “F**k! I thought, “the guy is taking some mega risks here!” Pushing the boat out with your capable climbing buddies is one thing, but to drag inexperienced paying clients into extremely questionable terrain is another. “What the f**k is going on here!” I thought as more of the same cropped up on my daily feed and his loving fans applauded his every action.
I started to see how Nim’s social media status as a hero began to whitewash the chaos he created. "A good bit of chaos never hurt anyone" I always thought until I realised that things were out of control for Nims. That he was trying to put out fires everywhere. Dennis Ubruko was forcefully told to shut up by Nim’s management team when he contradicted Nim’s claim to have climbed K2 in Winter without Oxygen. Whilst the sexual abuse allegations began to stack up, his devoted manosphere loudly phubbed the women involved as being desperate to get laid and his lawyers aggressively fought their every statement. He stored explosive material in a house he rented and when the house burnt down, fought his landlord tooth and nail in court rather than compensate him. When I criticised his pathetic expedition to ski the last degree in Antarctica, where utterly inexperienced he “guided” his client for a vast sum of money and got so completely lost and his client so severely frostbitten that they had to be rescued, his management team threatened to have me permanently expelled from the continent. It seemed that like the Donald Trump crowd, his ever-growing social media following was ready to forgive his every sin as long as he posted his self-serving hype and gave them the hero they so desperately needed in life. Especially if he graced them by touching their hand or posing for a selfie with them.
I have written about Nims before, how his style of “climbing” (helicopter supported, massive sponsorship, fixed rope and camps put up by a huge Sherpa team), makes him, to myself and serious alpinists, a super-fast rope puller rather than a climber. But generally, I always sat on the fence, conflicted by Nim’s admirable boldness whilst the Sherpa and Guide community began to raise their concerns about his ethics, professionalism, ethos and reputation as a poster boy for both Nepal and his chosen profession.
I sat on the fence until it began to bite my ass too hard to ignore. The crux came for me whilst watching the screen Nim’s fought hardest to project himself upon. How his operation made every single expedition as instagramable as possible, read about his company’s treatment of other clients who weren't as marketable. Laughed at how pretty girls and social media influencers were exempt from his assertion that he’d never take inexperienced folk on expeditions with him. I counted the contradictions and challenges as they rolled in about his claim to have done all 14 peaks in 6 months, laughed as his fans were unable to name a single member of the 9 Sherpa who had also climbed K2 with him in winter. I saw Nim’s flogging hats and merch and appear in a disastrous interview on the Jo Rogan show. I saw Nim’s fighting every allegation reputable newspapers brought against him, drag people to court. I saw his manosphere attempt to tear down Kristin Harila, the woman who legitimately kicked his ass by halving his disputed 6 month to climb all 14 peaks. I wondered how his wife felt about his well-established adultery and how once again no-one would remember the other 9 climbers who died alongside him on Broad Peak.
