At Nepal school, outpouring of grief for climber Nirmal Purja

Mourners and students at Small Heaven School in Chitwan light candles after the death of mountaineer Nirmal Purja and his companions in an avalanche in Pakistan

CHITWAN (NEPAL) - 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.