In 2019, Nims Purja, a 38-year-old veteran of the British particular forces, got down to climb all 14 of the world’s highest mountains — these over 8,000 meters, an altitude often known as the “loss of life zone” — in seven months, smashing the earlier file of practically eight years.
The feat was detailed in a Netflix documentary, “14 Peaks: Nothing Is Unattainable,” launched in late 2021 and in a ebook, “Past Attainable: One Man, Fourteen Peaks, and the Mountaineering Achievement of a Lifetime” (Nationwide Geographic), out now.
“There have been moments when the . . . mission felt overwhelming,” Purja writes. “Typically I even prayed for loss of life.”
At one level, Purja practically did die. Descending Pakistan’s Nanga Parbat, he slipped, fell, and slid 100 meters earlier than managing to seize a rope. Climbing Kanchenjunga in Nepal, Purja and his staff had encounters with three males who perished on the mountain. Nonetheless, the expertise solely left him on the lookout for new challenges.
This 12 months, Purja is busy guiding expeditions and performing cleanup missions on Everest and K2. He was simply in Antarctica main climbers up the continent’s tallest peak, Vinson Massif, with an altitude of 16,050 ft (4,892 meters) after which in South America summiting that continent’s highest mountain, Aconcagua. One of many individuals he was guiding in Antarctica was the princess of Qatar, Sheikha Asma Al Thani.
“She’s most likely one of many strongest of any — I wouldn’t say consumer any extra, as a result of she’s like a climbing buddy — that I ever had,” he stated of Asma.
Right here, he reveals the most important struggles he confronted on every of the 14 mountains he climbed for Challenge Attainable in 2019…
Annapurna, 8,091 meters, summited April 23
Purja began his endeavor, which he dubbed Challenge Attainable, with this difficult climb — “probably the most harmful mountain ever,” he stated. Susceptible to avalanches and unseen crevices into which individuals can fall to their loss of life, Annapurna is a “a conflict zone,” Purja writes. For each three individuals who attain the highest of the height, one dies.
On his means up, a big mass fell away from the mountain’s north face. Purja and his staff sought shelter in a tent and survived the avalanche. Shortly after summiting and establishing camp for the night time, they had been woke up by a frantic sherpa who needed to depart his consumer, a 48-year-old Malaysian physician, on the mountain. Purja and his crew agreed to assist rescue the person, who was finally evacuated by helicopter.
Dhaulagiri — 8,167 meters, summited Might 12
The rescue mission on Annapurna led Purja to get a late begin on his second climb and miss the window for good climate. He needed to take care of 70 kmph (43 mph) gusts and the tough circumstances meant it took him and his staff 5 day to summit. “The winds had been so highly effective that, at instances, it was inconceivable to see,” he writes. Purja recalled equally difficult circumstances when he first climbed the mountain in 2014 and led an expedition with the Princess of Qatar. “I’ve by no means had a straightforward means on this mountain, it all the time assessments me,” he stated.
Kanchenjunga — 8,586, summited Might 15
The third tallest mountain on this planet has a uniquely lengthy part proper earlier than the summit. It was the toughest climb of the venture, Purja stated, recalling how he was hungover; the summit push alone took over 18 hours; and the way he and his staff tried to rescue 4 different climbers, sharing their oxygen within the course of. “Psychologically, the route feels neverending, the summit perpetually out of attain, and many individuals flip again lengthy earlier than making the highest,” Purja writes. Of the climbers they tried to rescue, two perished. One man died in Purja’s arms. In addition they discovered {that a} third man, whom they handed and tried to persuade to show round, died.
Everest — 8,848 meters, summited Might 22
On the world’s tallest mountain, he contended with a high-altitude site visitors jam. Roughly 150 climbers had been congested on the Hillary Step, a steep rock face just some hundred ft from the summit. “Collisions had been happening each couple of minutes: a succession of frantic overtaking maneuvers threatened to wobble somebody from the security rope at any second,” writes Purja, who snapped {a photograph} of the congestion that went viral and ended up on the entrance web page of the New York Occasions.
Lhotse — 8,516 meters, summited Might 22
“Ohmygod, I like this mountain,” Purja stated of this comparatively simple peak. “I felt like I used to be on a vacation.” It took him and his staff simply 10 hours and quarter-hour to achieve the highest, tying his earlier file. Nonetheless, the mountain could be very a lot a probably deadly one. “I handed a minimum of three corpses alongside the way in which [down], probably the most unsettling being a person in a shiny yellow summit swimsuit, his jaw set askew in a rictus grin,” Purja writes. “Apparently, he’d been caught there for years.”
Makalu — 8,481, summited Might 24
This climb was comparatively simple, taking simply 18 hours. “The strains had been mounted, the snow was shallow, and we moved quick and lightweight,” Purja writes. With the summit, he set a file for the quickest triple-header of Everest, Lhotse, and Makalu: two days and half-hour. He held the earlier file for the feat, which was 5 days, three hours and 25 minutes. “May anyone doubt me now?” he writes.
Nanga Parbat — 8,126 meters, summited July 3
The second part of Challenge Unattainable was tackling 5 mountains in Pakistan, the place, Purja writes “an assault from Taliban forces was an actual concern.” He booked three totally different flights into Pakistan to confuse potential terrorists and stored a low profile, refraining from posting to social media. In 2013, 16 members of the Taliban ripped a dozen climbers from their tents at Nanga Parbat base camp and executed all however one man who managed to flee in the dead of night on naked ft.
Gasherbrum I — 8,080 meters, summited July 14
Whereas in Nepal, Purja was typically in a position to hitch a experience on helicopters between the bottom camps of various mountains, however there have been no such luxuries in Pakistan. It took eight days of journey, by automobile and by foot, carrying heavy backpacks, by Taliban territory to get from Nanga Parbat to Gasherbrum basecamp. Exhausted, Purja and his staff didn’t understand how lengthy it could take them to climb the precise mountain and didn’t convey ample meals or provides to camp. “We massively underestimated it,” he stated.
Gasherbrum II — 8,035 meters, summited July 18
Ater a tough go on the primary Gasherbrum, Purja and staff had been in a position to loosen up a bit. “It’s a straightforward mountain,” he stated. They climbed at a sluggish, regular tempo and loved views of K2 and Broad Peak, together with the mountain’s personal distinctive silhouette. The “sharp peak, curved towards the sky like a shark’s tooth, glowed pink within the dawn,” he writes.
K2 — 8,611 meters, summited July 24
When Purja and his staff arrived at base camp for K2, the second highest peak on this planet, morale was low. There had been “hair-trigger avalanches and screaming gales,” he writes. Purja determined his staff would discover a means up the mountain regardless of the unfavorable circumstances utilizing a route often known as “the Bottleneck” that “bristled with seracs and was pitched at round 55 levels.” It was the quickest method, but in addition numerous fatalities occurred there. “I knew the seracs had been hanging over us like a toothy jawline,” he writes. “It required solely to crack and crash for all of us to die.”
Broad Peak — 8,051 meters, July 26
After coming down from K2, the staff rested solely three hours at base camp earlier than heading to the twelfth highest mountain on this planet. They deliberate to sort out Broad Peak in a day, “however the mountain god has different plans.” There’d been a heavy snowfall burying all of the mounted strains and leaving them to trailblaze in deep snow. The usually unstoppable Purja confronted his bodily limits; the staff ran out of supplementary oxygen and have become a bit delirious. At one level, Purja realized that he’s been climbing for a number of hours with out being clipped into a hard and fast line — “a essential precedence for high-altitude security.”
Cho Oyu — 8,201 meters, summited Sept. 23
The ultimate part of Challenge Attainable was marked by bureaucratic hurdles. The Chinese language authorities deliberate to evacuate this mountain by October 1, Purja needed to journey rapidly by helicopter and foot to Cho Oyu. Whereas at base camp at that mountain, he heard rumors about others within the climbing group being jealous of his pursuits. If rival guides needed to push him off a distant peak, he writes “what was to cease them from saying [I’d] slipped and fallen? The alibi was completely believable.”
Manaslu — 8,156 meters, summited Sept. 27
Purja couldn’t cease enthusiastic about his dying mom as he tackled this difficult Nepalese peak, thought of one of many world’s most harmful. “I started to really feel somewhat overwhelmed. I used to be so near ending the mission, however on the identical time every little thing appeared off-kilter,” he writes. “I used to be weighed down by the realities of mum’s well being…. And what concerning the monetary implications of my profession selections — no quick pension, no safety?”
Shishapangma — 8,027 meters, summited Oct. 29
Purja was initially denied permission by the Chinese language authorities to climb this ultimate peak, which is positioned in Tibet. He was finally in a position to get a sherpa good friend to persuade them to let him do it, however then, “The climate on the way in which up was horrific, as if the mountain hoped to disclaim me the ultimate climb,” he writes. “However nothing may maintain me again, although an avalanche got here rattling shut.” A slab of snow sheared off from the mountain and rushed in the direction of him, however the avalanche went round him. “The deities had spared my life,” he stated.
From the summit, he referred to as his sick mom, who would cross away in 2020. “I’ve completed it,” he informed her.
“Get residence secure, son,” she replied. “I like you.”
