Nirmal ‘Nims’ Purja MBE
Former special forces operator Nirmal Purja MBE, or ‘Nims’ has spent the last 16 years serving in the military, 10 of which were in the discrete and secretive world of the UK’s Special Forces. However, in 2019 he left the military and for the first time can tell the stories of an extraordinary career. Nims is an extraordinary mountaineer who, because of his physiology, training, mindset and sheer humanity, is capable of achieving things beyond even the most experienced climber.
In March 2019 Nims travelled back to the Himalayas with the aim to break more than 7 speed world records on mountains above 8000m; climbing all the 14 x 8000m peaks in 7 months. On 29th October at 0858hrs local time, Nims Purja became the fastest person on earth to climb all 14 of the world’s 8,000m plus peaks in just under 7 months. The previous world record was 7 years. After smashing this record in just six months and six days, Nimsdai has since summited K2 in the depths of winter. Known as the ‘savage mountain’, K2 was the last 8,000m peak in the world that had never been climbed during winter until 16th January when it was considered by many to be an impossible task.
Nimsdai Osprey
Aether Pro 70
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Career Highlights
- Awarded MBE from Her Majesty The Queen, for his outstanding achievement on extreme high-altitude mountaineering
- Subject matter expert in extremely cold weather warfare specialist within the UK Special Forces
- In 2016 he became the first Gurkha to climb Everest whilst serving in the British Military
- Became the fastest person on earth to climb all 14 of the world’s 8,000m plus peaks in just under 7 months (29th October)
- Awarded with the prestigious Piolet d’Or Award presented by the Union of Asian Alpine Association (UAAA) with the title of Sherpa of the Year 2020. This prestigious mountaineering award recognises Nimsdai’s achievements.
- On 16th January 2021 at 1700hrs local time, Nimsdai and the team made history again by becoming the first to summit K2 in winter. A feat regarded by so many as impossible and one of the last and greatest remaining grand prizes in mountaineering.
Currently holds 3 Guinness World Records
- Fastest consecutive summits of Everest, Lhotse and Makalu (Higher 8000m peaks) taking a total of five days.
- The fastest time from the summit of Everest to the summit of Lhotse, taking a total of 10 hours 15 minutes, beating the previous record of 20 hours.
- The first person to summit Everest twice, Lhotse once and Makalu once, in the same season, taking a total of 17 days
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