Published 17:54 IST, September 17th 2019
Nepali climber Nirmal Purja to climb 14 tallest peaks in 7 months
A Nepali Climber Nirmal Purja, who has served the British special forces for 16 years, challenged himself of completing that in a matter of just seven months
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The current record for climbing all the world’s famous 14 tallest peaks is almost eight years but a Nepali Climber Nirmal Purja, who has served the British special forces, has challenged himself of completing that in a matter of just seven months.
Ready for the final phase of the last three peaks in his feat of outstanding endurance, Nirmal Purja arrived at the advance base camp of the 8,201-metre (26,906-feet) Cho Oyu on Monday. After quitting the Army after 16 years of service, Purja remortgaged his house to begin his extraordinary expedition.
No one believed me
Purja said that nobody believed him when he revilied his aspirations but he also added that he is glad to be an inspiration for people. He was only a teenager when he joined the British forces, the British Gurkhas. Purja climbed both the 8,848-metre Everest and Lhotse at 8,516 meters in a record 10 hours and 15 minutes in the year 2017.
His own achievements inspired him to push himself to start the ‘project possible”, scaling the 14 peaks -- all higher than 8,000 meters in seven months. However, the project somewhere seems to be radically ambitious as it took Polish climber Jerzy Kukuczka seven years, 11 months and 14 days, in the 1980s.
South Korean climber Kim Chang-ho managed to do it in about a month less. Purja got a detailed tattoo done of the 14 mountains engraved on his back, with colorful prayer flags tracing his journey to the peaks before he set off for his incredible expedition.
Anything is possible: Nirmal Purja
Purja was raised in the Northwest District of Chitwan and did not even have flip-flops growing up. He said that his story inspires anyone who doesn't have the privilege to dream about bigger things. Anything is possible if you put your heart and mind and give 100 per cent to it, he said.
He also shared that he wants to lift the Nepali Climbers, especially the Sherpas who often work as guides for foreign climbers in the Himalayas because he feels that they are not given the right credit.
15:00 IST, September 17th 2019