
“Giving up isn’t in the blood.” - Nims Purja Nims climbed to the top of all five 8,000ers in just 70 days: Makalu (5th) is 284 m (931 ft) higher than Cho Oyu (6th). The five highest 8,000ers are considered significant because the height jump between the sixth and the fifth-highest peaks is greater than any of the others. Impressively, previous record holder Kim Chang Ho didn’t use any and he still holds the record for the fastest ascent of all mountains over 8,000 m without supplementary oxygen.įastest time to climb the top five 8,000ers Nims used bottled oxygen in all of his ascents. Nims' awe-inspiring adventure ended 189 days later, on 29 October, atop Shisha Pangma (8,027 m 26,335 ft) in Tibet. For every three climbers that make it to the summit of this mountain, one dies trying.


On 23 April 2019, Nims scaled the first peak Annapurna I (8,091 m 26,545 ft) in Nepal. He was supported by a team of fellow Nepalese mountaineers who climbed with him on different mountains throughout the expedition. Nims went on to set the fastest time to climb all mountains over 8,000 m at 6 months 6 days. “This is about inspiring the human race.” So I decided to name it Project Possible.” Nims explained in the documentary. So when the ex-Gurkha soldier declared that he would summit all 14 of these mountains in seven months, almost everyone thought he was crazy. Advertisementsįor ordinary people, a single 8,000er is a major endeavour that can take months to complete. Advertisementsīut the death zone is where Nims comes alive. The conditions are so extreme that when a climber gets into trouble up there, they are usually left to perish. Our bodies can no longer acclimatize to the altitude and our cells begin to die. Part of the challenge of climbing the 8,000ers is that they take climbers into the so-called ‘death zone’.Ībove 8,000 m, the oxygen pressure in the atmosphere is insufficient to sustain human life for an extended time span. Fastest ascent of all mountains over 8,000 m Here are all the Guinness World Records titles Nims achieved during his epic mountain climbing quest.

Netflix’s new documentary, 14 Peaks: Nothing Is Impossible, gives us an incredible look into Nims’ unprecedented expeditions. Then along came Nirmal “Nims” Purja (Nepal), who did it in less than 7 months. Prior to 2019, the fastest ascent of all mountains over 8,000 m was 7 years 310 days, set by Kim Chang-Ho (South Korea). Amongst mountain climbers, the '8,000ers' – the 14 peaks above 8,000 m (26,246 ft) - are regarded as the ultimate challenge.
