As rescuers recovered the body of climbing legend Nirmal Purja on Sunday, grief rippled hundreds of kilometres away in Nepal at the school where he first displayed the grit that would make him world-famous. At the Small Heaven School in Chitwan district, friends, teachers and students gathered around a framed photograph of the 43-year-old British-Nepali climber, adorned with flowers. Advertisement AdvertisementAdvertisement Advertisement"When he was missing, we were praying for him and spent sleepless nights," Dhiraj Bahadur Panta, a school friend of Purja, told AFP, his voice quivering with emotion. "Even when he was in class three, he was fearless and committed to achieving something," Shailendra Baral, who supervised Purja in the school hostel, told AFP. Advertisement AdvertisementAdvertisement AdvertisementIn 2022, Purja received a hero's welcome when he came to Chitwan for the screening of his documentary.