Overview
Nepali climber Nims Purja is the first man ever to summit all fourteen of the world’s 8000 meter “Death Zone” peaks. He did so in less than seven months, breaking the previous record of seven years. In this spellbinding memoir , tied to the acclaimed Netflix documentary “14 Peaks,” Purja reveals the man behind the climbs, explaining how his early life in Nepal and training as a soldier in Britain’s elite Gurkha and SBS units allowed him to achieve a mountaineering mission few thought was attainable. Purja shows how leadership, integrity, and collaboration drive world’s greatest climbing feats, including the first-ever winter ascent of Pakistan’s K2—another mountaineering milestone that he achieved in January 2021. Both profound and inspiring, this intimate book reveals what it takes to go miles beyond the possible.
Celebrated Nepali climber Nims Purja holds multiple mountaineering world records. After serving with the British Armed Forces as a Nepalese Gurkha and as a soldier in the Special Boat Service (SBS), an elite special forces unit of the Royal Navy, he took on a series of mountaineering challenges, including climbing all 14 of the world’s mountain peaks above 8,000 meters in just over six months, reaching the summits of Mount Everest, Lhotse, and Makalu in 48 hours and completing the first-ever winter ascent of Pakistan’s K2.
Why We Like It
“My comfort zone begins where most individuals quit.”
“As a kid in Nepal, I went barefoot because my family had nothing. That’s how I developed the resilience I needed for joining the Gurkhas, one of the most fearless forces in the British Army. Then against all odds, I became the first ever Gurkha soldier in more than 200 years of history to join the Special Boat Service where I served in the some of the world’s most dangerous warzones, kicking down doors to capture enemy gunmen and terrorist bomb makers.
But elite combat wasn’t enough. I wanted more of a test. That’s where my next project came in, something nobody thought was possible – to climb all fourteen “death zone” mountains in seven months. The previous standard for conquering the world’s most dangerous peaks was seven years, ten months and six days. I smashed through that achievement in six months, breaking several world records in the process. I’d have been even quicker had I not been called in to lead four perilous, high-altitude rescue missions.
I knew that to quit on the mountain was to die. Even though I’d only started my climbing a few years earlier, as a hobby, I found I was able to adapt quickly to the deadly conditions. I was rarely phased by the lung-burning temperatures or brutal winds and fatigue seemed to pass me by. Fear became irrelevant because I had belief. In the death zone, I came alive.
There were intimidating challenges to negotiate away from the mountains, too. Financial hurdles had to be overcome in order to fund an expedition with a six-figure price tag. Political negotiations with the Chinese government were required to ensure my entry to Shishapangma. And as I broke several world records, my mother was hospitalized. As the youngest son in a Nepalese family I was duty bound to care for her. My world fell apart. But this is what happens when ambition meets limitless imagination.
Beyond Possible: One Soldier, Fourteen Peaks — My Life In The Death Zone is the inside story of my incredible adventure.”
– Nimsdai Purja MBE
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Overview
Nepali climber Nims Purja is the first man ever to summit all fourteen of the world’s 8000 meter “Death Zone” peaks. He did so in less than seven months, breaking the previous record of seven years. In this spellbinding memoir , tied to the acclaimed Netflix documentary “14 Peaks,” Purja reveals the man behind the climbs, explaining how his early life in Nepal and training as a soldier in Britain’s elite Gurkha and SBS units allowed him to achieve a mountaineering mission few thought was attainable. Purja shows how leadership, integrity, and collaboration drive world’s greatest climbing feats, including the first-ever winter ascent of Pakistan’s K2—another mountaineering milestone that he achieved in January 2021. Both profound and inspiring, this intimate book reveals what it takes to go miles beyond the possible.
Celebrated Nepali climber Nims Purja holds multiple mountaineering world records. After serving with the British Armed Forces as a Nepalese Gurkha and as a soldier in the Special Boat Service (SBS), an elite special forces unit of the Royal Navy, he took on a series of mountaineering challenges, including climbing all 14 of the world’s mountain peaks above 8,000 meters in just over six months, reaching the summits of Mount Everest, Lhotse, and Makalu in 48 hours and completing the first-ever winter ascent of Pakistan’s K2.
Why We Like It
“My comfort zone begins where most individuals quit.”
“As a kid in Nepal, I went barefoot because my family had nothing. That’s how I developed the resilience I needed for joining the Gurkhas, one of the most fearless forces in the British Army. Then against all odds, I became the first ever Gurkha soldier in more than 200 years of history to join the Special Boat Service where I served in the some of the world’s most dangerous warzones, kicking down doors to capture enemy gunmen and terrorist bomb makers.
But elite combat wasn’t enough. I wanted more of a test. That’s where my next project came in, something nobody thought was possible – to climb all fourteen “death zone” mountains in seven months. The previous standard for conquering the world’s most dangerous peaks was seven years, ten months and six days. I smashed through that achievement in six months, breaking several world records in the process. I’d have been even quicker had I not been called in to lead four perilous, high-altitude rescue missions.
I knew that to quit on the mountain was to die. Even though I’d only started my climbing a few years earlier, as a hobby, I found I was able to adapt quickly to the deadly conditions. I was rarely phased by the lung-burning temperatures or brutal winds and fatigue seemed to pass me by. Fear became irrelevant because I had belief. In the death zone, I came alive.
There were intimidating challenges to negotiate away from the mountains, too. Financial hurdles had to be overcome in order to fund an expedition with a six-figure price tag. Political negotiations with the Chinese government were required to ensure my entry to Shishapangma. And as I broke several world records, my mother was hospitalized. As the youngest son in a Nepalese family I was duty bound to care for her. My world fell apart. But this is what happens when ambition meets limitless imagination.
Beyond Possible: One Soldier, Fourteen Peaks — My Life In The Death Zone is the inside story of my incredible adventure.”
– Nimsdai Purja MBE
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