This morning, 29th October, at 8:58 local time, Nepali mountaineer Nirmal ‘Nims’ Purja summited Shishapangma in Tibet and in doing so set a new record of 189 days for climbing all of the 8000m peaks.
To put the achievement in perspective, the previous record held by the late South Korean, Kim Chang-ho, stood at seven years, 10 months and six days, and the only Briton to have ever climbed all the 8000ers – Alan Hinkes – took 21 years. It should be noted that some members of the ‘8000ers Club’ climbed without the use of supplementary oxygen, and sometimes by new routes; Nims, however, opted to use oxygen and to use ‘normal’ routes with the justification being, quite understandably, that the time frame he had set himself made this necessary.
After summiting his last peak, Nims said: “I am overwhelmed and incredibly proud to have completed this final summit and achieved my goal of climbing the world’s 14 tallest mountains in record time. It has been a gruelling but humbling six months,” he said. “By achieving this goal, I knew I could inspire people from all generations, across the world.”
Nims talked exclusively to Trek & Mountain in a recent interview about his motivation for attempting the 8000ers speed record, how he got into high altitude mountaineering and how his training in the UK Special Forces has helped him achieve his goals. You can read the full interview in the LATEST ISSUE of Trek & Mountain.
THE SUMMITS
- Annapurna summited 23rd April
- Dhaulagiri summited 12th May
- Kanchenjunga summited 15th May
- Everest summited 22nd May
- Lhotse summited 22nd May
- Makalu summited 24th May
- Nanga Parbat summited 3rd July
- Gasherbrum I summited 15th July
- Gasherbrum II summited 18th July
- K2 summited 24th July
- Broad Peak summited 26th July
- Cho You summited 23rd September
- Manaslu summited 27th September
- Shishapangma summited 29th October
More info: www.projectpossible.co.uk