Fastest mountain climber Nirmal Purja explorersweb.com |
Mt. Everest. tripadvisor.co. |
Nirmal Purja, fastest mountain climber thehimalayantimes.com |
Purja who also goes by the name of Nims dal joined the British Gurkhas when he was in his late teens. Later he became a mountain climber after serving the military for 16 years. He climbed both Lhostse (altitude: 8516 m ) and Mt.Everest (altitude 8848 m ) in a record 10 hrs and 15mts time way back in 2017. This great feat gave this 36 year old man confidence and inspiration to embark on a tough endeavor ridden with dangers called ''Project Possible'' scaling all the 14 tallest peaks above 8000 meters in the world within a period of seven months. Earlier, Kuluczkca, Polish mountain climber, took 7 years, 11 months and 14 days to cover all the 14 peaks (last fastest-known time). Kim-chang-ho, a South Korean mountaineer achieved this feat less than one month, but he had no supplementary oxygen.
Purja's 14 - mountain peak odyssey began in earnest in April, 2019. His first target was 8091 meter tall Annapoorna followed by other peaks like Dhaulagiri, Kanchenjunga, Everest, Lhotse and Makalu (May 24; fifth-tallest mountain), and now they are all off his list in a little less than a month. As for Makalu, he chose the normal route using bottled oxygen and accompanied by a Sherpa guide. When Nim scaled Annapurna, on that day, climber Wui Kin Chin, a doctor from Malaysia, went missing. Up on the higher slopes the ascent on Dhaulagiri was quite hard due to bad weather. The most important thing is Nim made this great feat- climbing all the roughest peaks in a rapid succession; 48 hours beforehand he had stood on the summit of Lhotse, the world’s fourth-highest mountain. And 12 hours before that, he had stood atop of Mt. Everest.
The first part of his project having been over, he was getting ready for the second one A month later he was in Pakistan where he managed to climb the dangerous peak Nanga Parbat (8125 m; ninth-tallest mountains ). Then 25 days later he was atop Broad Peak (26 July), his 5th and final mountain peak in his second mission (actually it is 11th peak in his quest for 14 peaks).
Nirmal Purja and Mingma David - Annapurna summit.thehimalayantimes.com |
Hats off to this great outdoor adventurist to whom sky is the limit and he knows how to get there as fast as he can despite dangers and hurdles on the way. Surprisingly, he has the right mindset and courage to do it, leaving behind the odds and setbacks.
”https://www.nationalgeographic.com/adventure/2019/05/climber-record-summits-six-eight-thousand-meter-peaks-one-month/