It’s not every day that you come across someone who is on a different planet to the rest of humanity.
Nirmal Purja is the GOAT [Greatest of all Time] in question. Let me tell you of his achievement upfront. This is the man who dared to take on the challenge of climbing the worlds 14 highest mountains (above 8000 metres) in 6 months. Yes, you read that correctly, he indeed completed this superhuman feat by climbing 14 mountains in 6 months and 6 days. I cannot even begin to fathom the enormity of what Nirmal has achieved.
These are the mountains he climbed: Annapurna (8091m), Dhaulagiri (8167m), Kangchenjunga (8586m), Mount Everest (8848m), Lhotse (8516m), Makalu (8485m), Nanga Parbat (8126m), Gasherbrum I (8080m), Gasherbrum II (8034m), K2 (8611m), Broad Peak (8047m), Cho Oyu (8188m), Manaslu (8163m) and Shishapangma (8027m).
If that was not enough, he broke his previous Guinness World Record by climbing Mount Everest, Lhotse, and Makalu within 2 days and 30 minutes. Yes my friends, he climbed 3 mountains in less than 3 days.
The table below gives an indication of how many mountains Nirmal has climbed. Check it out and you’ll see he has climbed Mt Everest no less than 6 times. I mean doing it once is often the pinnacle for any leading mountaineer.
|
| 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 |
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-Sep-19 |
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) | 03-Jul-19 |
10 | Annapurna (8091 m) | 23-Apr-19 |
11 | Gasherbrum I (8080 m) | 15-Jul-19 |
12 | Broad Peak (8051 m) | 26-Jul-19 |
13 | Gasherbrum II (8034 m) | 18-Jul-19 |
14 | Shishapangma (8027 m) | 29-Oct-19 |
There is a movie called ‘14 Peaks: Nothing is Impossible’ which charts the incredible journey of Nirmal’s incredible steadfastness in his own conviction that nothing is impossible. Can you imagine what a mother goes through knowing that her son is about to climb not just the highest mountain in the world, but all 14 of the highest, and that also in 6 months? How incredible must the confidence of his wife Suchi be that she stands by his side knowing that he is only a moment away from harm’s way?
If you get an opportunity, I suggest strongly that you watch the movie. Get ready to be amazed and get ready to have your mind blown. It is currently available on Netflix.
Nirmal is to mountaineering what Bolt is to athletics, Serena Williams and Federer are to tennis, Hamilton and Schumacher to Formula One, Woods to golf, Ali to boxing, Maradona and Pele to football, Phelps to swimming, and Bradman and Tendulkar to cricket. Nirmal is unique even amongst these giants.
In my view Nirmal Purja deserves a knighthood. Only four mountaineers have been bestowed such an honour. They are Sir Edmund Hillary, Sir John Hunt, Sir Chris Bonington and Sir Graeme Dingle.
I ask one question to our Prime Minister and to HM the Queen, what does Nirmal have to do to get a knighthood? Many with lesser accomplishments have been granted this honour, but not Nirmal. This Nepali man has served in the British Army with the Brigade of Gurkhas, followed by the Special Boat Services (SBS) and the special forces unit of the Royal Navy, and then he conquers the world of mountains. It’s 2022, it’s time for this nation to stand up and honour this man, nay, this superhuman. Arise Sir Nirmal Purja.
