2019 Nirmal Purja Lhotse Speed Ascent

Nepal🏔️ 15 Peaks

Nirmal Purja

Nirmal 'Nimsdai' Purja was born on July 25, 1983, in Dana, a small village in the Myagdi District of western Nepal. Raised in Chitwan in the southern lowlands, he dreamed from childhood of military service. In 2003, at age nineteen, he joined the legendary British Brigade of Gurkhas, serving with distinction before becoming, in 2009, the first Gurkha to pass the grueling selection for the UK Special Forces' elite Special Boat Service (SBS). Across nearly a decade of classified combat operations as a cold-weather warfare specialist, Purja honed the extreme mental grit, physiological stamina, and high-stakes operational planning that would subsequently transform high-altitude mountaineering. Purja's climbing journey began during military leave in 2012 when, with zero prior mountaineering experience, he trekked to Everest Base Camp and summited Lobuche East (6,119m). In 2014, he achieved his first 8,000-meter summit on Dhaulagiri I after just fifteen days of acclimatization. In 2016 and 2017, he led Gurkha expeditions to Mount Everest, summiting twice and pioneering fast-rotation tactics. Recognising his extraordinary high-altitude physiology, Queen Elizabeth II appointed Purja a Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE) in 2018 for outstanding achievements in extreme high-altitude mountaineering. Months later, he resigned from the Special Forces just years short of a guaranteed lifetime military pension to pursue a lifelong dream that seasoned alpine authorities deemed impossible. In 2019, Purja launched 'Project Possible 14/7'—a mission to summit all fourteen of the world's 8,000-meter 'death zone' peaks in just seven months, shattering the previous world record of seven years, ten months, and six days set by Kim Chang-ho. Starting on April 23 on the avalanche-prone north face of Annapurna I, Purja conquered Nepal's giants in rapid succession: Dhaulagiri, Kangchenjunga, Mount Everest, Lhotse, and Makalu. On Everest, Lhotse, and Makalu, he established a staggering record by summiting all three peaks in only 48 hours. Beyond speed, Purja gained global admiration for stopping his own climbs to lead life-saving high-altitude rescues, including the helicopter rescue of Dr. Chin Kin Wah on Annapurna and assisting stranded climbers on Kangchenjunga. Phase 2 of Project Possible swept through Pakistan's Karakoram in July 2019. In just twenty-three days, Purja summited Nanga Parbat, Gasherbrum I, Gasherbrum II, K2, and Broad Peak. On K2, when dozens of international teams were paralyzed by deep snow and severe avalanche danger in the Bottleneck, Purja and his team of Nepali climbers took charge of route-fixing, broke trail through the drifts, and spearheaded the successful team summit push. Moving to Tibet for Phase 3, he claimed Cho Oyu on September 23 and Manaslu on September 27. When China initially withheld permits for Shishapangma, international diplomatic appeals facilitated by the Nepali government led to special clearance. On October 29, 2019, Purja stood on Shishapangma's summit, completing all fourteen 8,000ers in just 189 days (6 months and 6 days). Fifteen months later, on January 16, 2021, Purja achieved high-altitude immortality by co-leading the historic first winter ascent of K2 (8,611m)—the last remaining 8,000-meter peak unclimbed in winter. In arctic temperatures of −65 °C, two Nepali teams unified their efforts. Purja chose to push for the summit entirely without supplemental oxygen, a feat of immense physiological defiance given his lack of high-camp acclimatization. Halting ten meters below the summit, all ten Nepali climbers linked arms, sang Nepal's national anthem, and stepped onto the summit together at 4:58 PM. Purja's career has redefined high-altitude mountaineering, shattered Western-centric historical paradigms, and brought rightful global recognition to Nepali and Sherpa climbers as supreme high-altitude masters.