Nirmal Purja
MBE
Purja in 2021
Personal information
Born (1983-07-25) 25 July 1983[1]
Myagdi, Gandaki Province, Nepal
NationalityBritish,[2][3][4] Non-Resident Nepali Citizenship (since 9 November 2023)[5]
Career
Starting age29/30[6]
Notable ascentsAscent of all fourteen eight-thousander mountains, with a time of six months and six days (supplemental oxygen aid) - a record time until 2023.

Fastest ascent of Mount Everest, Lhotse and Makalu, in 48 hours[7][8][9]

First winter ascent of K2[10][11][12]
Family
SpouseSuchi Purja
ChildrenHimani Purja

Nirmal Purja (known as Nims or Nimsdai[13]) MBE (Nepali: निर्मल पुर्जा; born 25 July 1983[1]) is a Nepal-born naturalised British[4] mountaineer. Prior to taking on a career in mountaineering, he served in the British Army with the Brigade of Gurkhas followed by the Special Boat Service (SBS), the special forces unit of the Royal Navy.[1][14] Purja is notable for having climbed all 14 eight-thousanders (peaks above 8,000 metres or 26,000 feet) in a time of six months and six days with the aid of bottled oxygen.[15] This was a record at the time of climbing, although it was broken in 2023 by Kristin Harila and Tenjen Sherpa, who summitted all 14 eight-thousanders in 92 days. Purja was the first person to climb Mount Everest, Lhotse and Makalu within 48 hours. In 2021, Purja, along with a team of nine other Nepalese climbers, completed the first winter ascent of K2.[16][17][18]

Early life

Nirmal ("Nims") Purja was born in July 1983 in Dana, a small village in Nepal's Myagdi District[19] near Dhaulagiri, at 1,600 m above sea level.[20] At age 4, his family moved lower down to the Chitwan District near Kathmandu.[20] His father was a Gurkha soldier and his mother was from a farming background.[20] Being from two different Nepalese castes, their marriage was frowned upon and they were cut off financially and socially from their respective families.[20] Purja told National Geographic, "We came from a really poor family", and "As a kid, I remember I didn’t even have flip-flops".[20] His three much older brothers became Gurkha soldiers and they funded Purja to attend an English-speaking boarding school.[20] During his schooling, Purja became proficient in kick-boxing.[20] He later attended Loughborough University, where he received a postgraduate diploma in security management. [21]

Military career (2003–18)

Purja joined the Brigade of Gurkhas in 2003, and was accepted into the Royal Navy's Special Boat Service (SBS) in 2009,[19] becoming the first Gurkha to join the elite British unit.[1] He served in the Special Boat Service as a cold-weather warfare specialist.[1][6] Ministry of Defence regulations prohibit Purja from discussing his activities with the SBS, however he said that he was involved in all theatres of war that Britain was involved in, and he was wounded after taking a sniper bullet that missed his neck by striking the butt of the stock of his rifle.[20]

In 2018, he passed on a surprise invitation to join the Special Air Services (SAS) unit, and resigned from the SBS as a Lance Corporal,[22] in order to focus full-time on his high-altitude mountaineering career and projects.[20] At the time, Purja had become an important contributor to his family while serving in the military,[23] and was passing up his army pension (which he called "a life-changing" amount of money).[20]

Climbing career (2012–present)


Early Himalayan ascents

He made his first major Himalayan climb in 2012, reaching the summit of Lobuche East with no previous experience as a mountaineer. On 18 May 2014, he made his first ascent of an eight-thousander by summiting Dhaulagiri (8,167 metres) during a return trip of only 15 days.[24] On 13 May 2016, Purja summited Mount Everest, his second eight-thousander.[24]

On 15 May 2017,[24] Purja led the Gurkha Expedition "G200E", which summited Everest together with 13 Gurkhas to commemorate 200 years of Gurkha service in the British Army.[25] He has climbed Mount Everest six times: the third time 27 May 2017,[26] the fourth time 22 May 2019,[27] the fifth time 31 May 2021[28] and the sixth time 15 May 2022.[29]

On 9 June 2018, he was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) by Queen Elizabeth II[22] for his outstanding work in high altitude mountaineering.

Project Possible 14/7

Purja in Kathmandu in 2019, after the final climb of Project Possible

With a plan to complete all 14 eight-thousanders in seven months, Purja summited the first mountain on 23 April 2019 and completed the first six-summit phase of his "Project Possible 14/7"[7] on 24 May 2019: Annapurna, Dhaulagiri, Kangchenjunga, Mount Everest, Lhotse and Makalu.[7] He climbed with Sherpas Mingma Gyabu “David” Sherpa, Lakpa Dendi (Zekson Son), Geljen Sherpa and Tensi Kasang, amongst other mountaineers. The last five summits were climbed in only 12 days. He broke his previous Guinness World Record by climbing Mount Everest, Lhotse, and Makalu within 2 days and 30 minutes.[24][30][31][32][33][34]

Purja completed the second phase in July 2019, climbing Nanga Parbat (8126 m, 3 July), Gasherbrum I (8080 m, 15 July), Gasherbrum II (8034 m, 18 July), K2 (8611 metres, 24 July) and Broad Peak (8047 m, 26 July), all in Pakistan.[35][36]

The third and last phase started in September 2019. He summitted Cho Oyu (8188 m, Tibet, China) on 23 September and Manaslu (8163 m, Nepal) on 27 September. On 1 October 2019, Chinese authorities agreed to grant Purja and his team a special permit to scale Shishapangma (8027 m, Tibet, China) in the autumn season, at the request of the Nepali government.[37] Purja left Nepal for Tibet on 18 October 2019, leading a five-member expedition to climb the mountain[38] and completed Project Possible 14/7 with a successful summit on 29 October using supplemental oxygen.[39][8]

Research published in 2022 noted that during Project 14/7, Purja had stopped at the rocky fore summit of Dhaulagiri, and also at the ridge point on Manaslu.[40]

Other than the fastest ascent with supplemental oxygen of the 14 tallest mountains in the world, Purja broke the following records: most 8000 m mountains in the spring season, climbing six; most 8000 m mountains in the summer season, climbing five; fastest summit of the three highest mountains in the world, Everest, K2 and Kangchenjunga; fastest summit of the five highest mountains in the World, Everest, K2, Kangchenjunga, Lhotse and Makalu; fastest lower 8000ers, Gasherbrum 1, 2 and Broad Peak; fastest higher 8000ers, consecutive summits of Everest, Lhotse and Makalu in 48 hours (beats his own previous record of 5 days).[7]

Whilst attempting Project Possible in May 2019, a photo taken by Purja of the overcrowding on Mount Everest went viral and was shown in The New York Times.[41]

Project Possible has been documented as a Netflix Documentary called 14 Peaks: Nothing Is Impossible which was launched on 29 November 2021.[42][43]

First winter ascent of K2

Nirmal Purja, along with nine other Nepali mountaineers, made history on 16 January 2021 as the first to climb K2 in the harsh weather conditions of the winter. His team consisting of Mingma David Sherpa, Mingma Tenzi Sherpa, Geljen Sherpa, Pem Chiri Sherpa, Dawa Temba Sherpa and himself, joined by the team of Mingma Gyalje Sherpa (Mingma G), Dawa Tenjin Sherpa and Kilu Pemba Sherpa, and Sona Sherpa from Seven Summits Treks successfully ascended K2 at 16:58 local time in Pakistan.[44][16][17][18] This is the first successful K2 winter expedition after numerous attempts since 1987. Purja was the only team member to reach the summit without using supplemental oxygen, becoming the first person to do so in winter.[45][46]

After terrible weather conditions hit the lower camps at the foot of K2[47] and some equipment was lost, Nepali mountaineers of these three teams decided to join efforts and climb the peak together, as a team.

Further achievements

In May 2022, Purja set a new speed record for ascending Kangchenjunga, Mount Everest, and Lhotse consecutively without oxygen, with a time of 8 days 23 hours, and 10 minutes. He ascended Kangchenjunga on May 7 at 10:50 am, Mount Everest on May 15 at 8 am (his sixth ascent of Mount Everest), and after 26 hours, on May 16, at 10 am, ascended Lhotse.[29]

Ascents of eight-thousanders

Research published in 2022 could only verify three climbers, including Purja, (the other two being Ed Viesturs and Veikka Gustafsson), to have stood on the true geographical summit of all 14 eight-thousanders.[40] The researchers noted that during Project 14/7, Purja had stopped at the rocky fore summit of Dhaulagiri, and also at the ridge point on Manaslu.[40] However, they noted that Purja had corrected this in autumn 2021 when he went to the true summits of both mountains.[40]

The following table lists all of Purja's ascents of eight-thousander peaks:

S.no.Eight-thousander peak (height)Date of ascent
1.Mount Everest (8848 m)13 May 2016, 15 May 2017, 27 May 2017, 22 May 2019, 31 May 2021, 15 May 2022
2.K2 (8611 m)24 July 2019, 16 January 2021, 22 July 2022[48]
3.Kangchenjunga (8586 m)15 May 2019, 7 May 2022
4.Lhotse (8516 m)27 May 2017, 22 May 2019, 16 May 2022
5.Makalu (8485 m)1 June 2017, 24 May 2019
6.Cho Oyu (8188 m)23 September 2019
7.Dhaulagiri (8167 m)18 May 2014, 12 May 2019, 8 October 2021
8.Manaslu (8163 m)27 September 2019, 27 September 2021
9.Nanga Parbat (8125 m)3 July 2019
10.Annapurna (8091 m)23 April 2019
11.Gasherbrum I (8080 m)15 July 2019
12.Broad Peak (8051 m)26 July 2019
13.Gasherbrum II (8034 m)18 July 2019
14.Shishapangma (8027 m)29 October 2019

Personal life

Purja is of Magar descent.[45][49] He was raised as a Hindu.[50] He is married to Suchi Purja (the daughter of a Gurkha soldier), and they live in Hampshire.[20] Purja has three much older brothers (who were also all Gurkha soldiers).[20][51] In 2023, he was awarded an honorary degree from Loughborough University for his outstanding military service and achievements as a multi-world record-breaking mountaineer. [52]

Filmography

Year Title Role Notes Ref(s)
2021 14 Peaks: Nothing Is Impossible Himself [53]

Books

  • Purja, Nirmal (2020). Beyond Possible. Hodder & Stoughton. ISBN 978-1529312263.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "Nirmal Purja". RedBull. Archived from the original on 30 October 2021. Retrieved 28 January 2021.
  2. ↑ "ELITE HIMALAYAN ADVENTURES PRIVATE LIMITED". find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk. Retrieved 31 October 2021.
  3. ↑ "Change of Particulars for Director". Companies House. Retrieved 31 October 2021.
  4. 1 2 Robbins, Tom (26 November 2021). "Mountaineer Nirmal Purja: 'I'm sick of people saying things are impossible'". Financial Times. Retrieved 10 March 2022.
  5. ↑ "Famed mountaineer Nimsdai receives NRN citizenship". nepalkhabar.com. 9 November 2023. Retrieved 9 November 2023.
  6. 1 2 "Nirmal Purja: Nepali climber carving mountaineering history". Sportstar. Archived from the original on 30 October 2019. Retrieved 30 October 2019.
  7. 1 2 3 4 ""Project Possible" webpage". Archived from the original on 26 May 2019. Retrieved 26 May 2019.
  8. 1 2 "Nirmal "Nims" Purja Summits All 14 8,000 Meter Peaks in Just 6 Months 6 Days, Shattering Former Record by Over 7 Years". Rock and Ice Magazine. 30 October 2019. Archived from the original on 29 October 2019. Retrieved 29 October 2019.
  9. ↑ BBC News (29 October 2019). "Nirmal Purja: Ex-soldier climbs 14 highest mountains in seven months". BBC News. Archived from the original on 29 October 2019. Retrieved 29 October 2019.
  10. ↑ "Nirmal Purja climbed K2 in winter without supplementary oxygen". PlanetMountain.com. Archived from the original on 27 January 2021. Retrieved 29 January 2021.
  11. ↑ "First winter ascent of K2 achieved by Nirmal Purja and fellow Nepalese". South China Morning Post. 16 January 2021. Archived from the original on 28 January 2021. Retrieved 29 January 2021.
  12. ↑ "Nirmal Purja's K2 winter summit proves ANYTHING is possible". Red Bull. Archived from the original on 25 January 2021. Retrieved 29 January 2021.
  13. ↑ Kennedy, Lisa (1 December 2021). "'14 Peaks: Nothing Is Impossible' Review: Climbing at a Breakneck Pace". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 24 December 2021.
  14. ↑ "Special Boat Service". National Army Museum. Retrieved 7 December 2021.
  15. ↑ "Moving mountains". The Week. Archived from the original on 16 January 2021. Retrieved 15 January 2021.
  16. 1 2 Welle (www.dw.com), Deutsche. "Nepali mountaineers make first K2 winter ascent | DW | 16 January 2021". Deutsche Welle. Archived from the original on 16 January 2021. Retrieved 16 January 2021.
  17. 1 2 "Nepalese team makes first successful winter ascent of K2". The Guardian. 16 January 2021. Archived from the original on 16 January 2021. Retrieved 16 January 2021.
  18. 1 2 "Nepali mountaineers achieve historic winter first on K2". Adventure. 16 January 2021. Archived from the original on 16 January 2021. Retrieved 16 January 2021.
  19. 1 2 "Meet the man who climbed 14 mountains in six months and stunned the world". Red Bull. Archived from the original on 29 October 2019. Retrieved 30 October 2019.
  20. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Bliss, Dominic (12 January 2021). "How a Nepali climber with a "freakish physiology" stormed the world of high-altitude mountaineering". National Geographic. Retrieved 5 December 2021.
  21. ↑ "Nirmal (Nims) Purja MBE | Loughborough Business School | Loughborough University". www.lboro.ac.uk. Retrieved 26 July 2023.
  22. 1 2 "The London Gazette: Nirmal Purja MBE". 9 June 2018. Archived from the original on 26 May 2019. Retrieved 26 May 2019.
  23. ↑ "BBC Sport: Nimsdai Purja". BBC Sport. 30 November 2021. Retrieved 3 December 2021.
  24. 1 2 3 4 Dream Wanderlust (24 May 2019). "Nirmal Purja summits 5th eight-thousander in 12 days, ends 1st phase of 'Project Possible'". Dreamwanderlust.com.com. Archived from the original on 27 May 2019. Retrieved 26 May 2019.
  25. ↑ "Gurkha Everest Expedition – Himalayan Odyssey". 3 February 2015. Archived from the original on 26 May 2019. Retrieved 26 May 2019.
  26. ↑ "The Himalayan Database, Spring 2017". Retrieved 26 June 2022.
  27. ↑ "The Himalayan Database, Spring 2019". Retrieved 26 June 2022.
  28. ↑ "The Himalayan Database, Spring 2021". Retrieved 26 June 2022.
  29. 1 2 Raju Silwal (19 May 2022). "Nirmal Purja sets another record". nepalnews.com. Retrieved 30 June 2022.
  30. ↑ Rakhan Pokhrel (15 May 2019). "Nirmal Purja stands atop Kangchenjunga after heroic ascent of Dhaulagiri, Annapurna". The Himalaya Times. Archived from the original on 26 May 2019. Retrieved 26 May 2019.
  31. ↑ "Primeras cimas de la temporada en el Annapurna, Nirmal Purja tacha el primer 8.000" (in Spanish). Desnivel.com. 24 April 2019. Archived from the original on 26 May 2019. Retrieved 26 May 2019.
  32. ↑ "Nirmal Purja aclara que sí hizo cima en el Dhaulagiri… ahora va a por Everest, Lhotse y Makalu" (in Spanish). Desnivel.com. 20 May 2019. Archived from the original on 26 May 2019. Retrieved 26 May 2019.
  33. ↑ Isaac Fernández (23 May 2019). "Nirmal Purja corona Everest y Lhotse en el día… y hoy intenta el Makalu" (in Spanish). Desnivel.com. Archived from the original on 23 May 2019. Retrieved 26 May 2019.
  34. ↑ Isaac Fernández (24 May 2019). "Nirmal Purja completa sus 6×8000 de primavera con el Makalu" (in Spanish). Desnivel.com. Archived from the original on 26 May 2019. Retrieved 26 May 2019.
  35. ↑ Rajan Pokhrel (7 July 2019). "Nirmal 'Nims' Purja scales Nanga Parbat to complete his seventh 8000er". The Himalayan Times. Archived from the original on 29 July 2019. Retrieved 28 July 2019.
  36. ↑ Angela Benavides (26 July 2019). "Breaking: Nirmal Purja Climbs Broad Peak". Explorers.web. Archived from the original on 28 July 2019. Retrieved 28 July 2019.
  37. ↑ "China to allow Nirmal 'Nims' Purja to climb Shishapangma". October 2019. Archived from the original on 1 October 2019. Retrieved 1 October 2019.
  38. ↑ "Nirmal 'Nims' Purja leaves for Shishapangma to complete 14 peaks in 6 months". 18 October 2019. Archived from the original on 22 October 2019. Retrieved 22 October 2019.
  39. ↑ Rajana Ppokhrel (27 September 2019). "Nirmal 'Nims' Purja sets world record scaling 13 peaks in five months". The Himalayan Times. Archived from the original on 30 September 2019. Retrieved 27 September 2019.
  40. 1 2 3 4 Franz, Derek (20 July 2022). "Researchers challenge historical records for 8000-meter peaks". Alpinist. Retrieved 3 August 2022.
  41. ↑ Mutrie, Tim (18 September 2019). "New York Times: the climber whose traffic jam photo went viral". The New York Times. Retrieved 3 December 2021.
  42. ↑ "JRE 1790". Spotify.
  43. ↑ "14 Peaks: All the records Nims Purja broke in new Netflix documentary". Guinness World Records. 3 December 2021.
  44. ↑ "K2: Nepalese mountaineers claim historic first winter ascent". planetmountain.com. Archived from the original on 28 January 2021. Retrieved 28 January 2021.
  45. 1 2 Sangam Prasain (19 January 2021). "My body was freezing. I told my teammates I couldn't move". The Kathmandu Post. Archived from the original on 2 February 2021. Retrieved 28 January 2021.
  46. ↑ Nirmal Purja (18 January 2021). "Update 11 – With or without O2 ?". nimsdai.com. Archived from the original on 28 January 2021. Retrieved 28 January 2021.
  47. ↑ Tomlinson, Hugh. "Storm wrecks bid to reach K2 summit in winter". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Archived from the original on 16 January 2021. Retrieved 16 January 2021.
  48. ↑ "K2 Expedition 2022 : List of climbers summited K2 in 2022". baltistantimes.com. 22 July 2022. Retrieved 23 July 2022.
  49. ↑ Adam Skolnick; Bhadra Sharma (19 January 2021). "How Climbers Reached the Summit of K2 in Winter for the First Time". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 29 January 2021. Retrieved 28 January 2021.
  50. ↑ Purja 2020, p. 38.
  51. ↑ "Guardian: 14 Peaks challenge". TheGuardian.com. 3 December 2021. Retrieved 3 December 2021.
  52. ↑ "Achievements of inspiring individuals recognised with honorary degrees". Loughborough University. 15 December 2023. Retrieved 15 December 2023.
  53. ↑ Remley, Hilary (3 November 2021). "'14 Peaks: Nothing Is Impossible' Trailer Reveals a Man's Pursuit to Climb Every Mountain". Collider. Retrieved 15 November 2021.
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