The World’s Most Daring Mountaineer Knows ‘If You Give Up, You Die’
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Within the first 21 minutes of Netflix’s recent documentary 14 Peaks: Nothing Is Impossible, you witness the following: a man declares he will climb all of the world’s mountains with summits above 8,000 meters in the space of seven months. He climbs the first, which turns out to be a ferocious deathtrap by the name of Annapurna, and descends to basecamp only to learn a climber from another group was lost on the mountain. He promptly helicopters out with his team to climb again and reach the oxygen-deprived man, bringing him down just in time to save his life.
The rescue was a testament to the overwhelming humanity of Nimsdai “Nims” Purja’s project, in which he led a team of elite Nepalese mountaineers on a mission that fewer than 50 people have ever completed. Purja was told his mission was impossible—climbing a single one of these usually involves a two-month expedition—so he called it Project Possible. (The first to summit all 14 was trailblazing Italian climber Reinhold Messner in 1986. It took him 16 years.) In 2019, Nims and his team completed the circuit in six months and six days. Along the way, he climbed the first, fourth, and fifth tallest mountains in the world—Himalayan neighbors Everest, Lhotse, and Makalu—in 48 hours. He climbed number three, Kanchenjunga, in one single-day phase rather than the usual four, then nearly died trying to save another mountaineer suffering from oxygen deprivation, all while hungover from a raucous night out in Kathmandu.
The film is a celebration of the Nepalese climbing community, so often badly underrepresented in western discussions of mountaineering, and a story of the bond between a mother and her youngest son. But mostly, it is a rolling series of borderline incomprehensible human endeavors, the triumph of a mortal’s will against the towering strength of the natural world. When Nims arrives at K2, the seasoned mountaineers at base camp have given up. “You have to respect the mountain,” says one. “Sometimes, it doesn’t want you up there.” And then Nims and his team climb the mountain, setting a path for the rest to follow. By the end, you’re left with an impression of a man who can only truly feel alive if he is testing himself against all there is, peering over a cliff into death’s own valley. But he did have to push our chat back a day due to a horrible toothache.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity. For reference, “opening a route” means to fasten the ropes and lay down a path up the mountain; “HACE” is high altitude cerebral edema, which can strike climbers who are not acclimated to the altitude because they ascended quickly or ran out of oxygen; The Bottleneck is a passage on K2, the world’s second-highest peak that is widely regarded as the most dangerous mountaineering mission there is. In 2021, Nims was part of the first team ever to summit in winter, when temperatures can hit 70 below.
Esquire: How's your tooth doing?
Nims: It's killing me. I think I've been on 10 painkillers a day. It's okay, brother. It's all right. We'll crack on.
It must be something to slow you down, considering the pain you’re in on the mountain sometimes.
Bro, you know what? When you have some pain, you’ve got to supersede with bigger pain. So I had a toothache, actually, in Shishapangma, my last mountain, with a wisdom tooth. And how I overcome that was by even climbing faster, because if you climb faster, your heart rate is pumped up, you're struggling, and that pain is bigger than your dental pain.
Yeah. That's one way to do it. What’s the most pain you’ve been in trying to summit a mountain?
In the whole of the 14 peaks, climbing was the easiest thing I had to do, honestly. The issue was not only climbing those peaks but at the same time raising the funding, managing team dynamics. I'm on the summit of this mountain, I'm also already thinking, "What's happening on the next mountain? What's the logistics there?" And also the filming of the whole content, making sure that the images capture. And most importantly, dealing with the emotional part with my family, with my mom's health, being nearly close to death when I was on the mountain.
One moment that did stick out in the film is when you had HACE coming down from a mountain. What does that feel like?
You feel like you are drowning. So this is from my book, Beyond Possible—I was still in the special forces, but I just came from one operational tour, and I had a little holiday. And I was like, "Not going to go to the beach and just chill out and achieve nothing." No offense, but yeah, I was like, "I'm going to go and climb Everest." So I emptied my savings, and told the bank that I was going to buy a new car and took a personal loan, everything.
I had a very short period of time, but also I knew that I was a very, very fast climber. Dhaulagiri, the seventh highest mountain, I climbed that in 14 days. So with that knowledge and experience I thought I could do it. Here I was carrying about 75 pounds, roughly, and I went to camp two, and it took me only five days from Lukla. Normally, people take five weeks. So immediately I got there, obviously I found out that I had [HACE]. Terrible experience, man. And obviously I came down to Lukla, which is lower elevation, 2,800 meters. And for me, I was so disappointed by myself. The doctors were telling me that I have to go away. But I was like, "You know what? No, I can heal quicker."
If there's two patients, similar age, similar build, in the hospital, the person who has got that mindset, the positive mindset, the one who believes that he can heal quicker, the one he thinks that he can overcome these things, will heal quicker. Eventually, I was 95 percent good. Then I went and I climbed Everest. And that was my first time. And within like two days after that, I was back in special operations kicking doors in, you know? And none of my special forces friends believed it. I had to show them pictures.
So you just believe you're going to get better quicker, and you do. Like in the movie, when you get to K2, the other climbers that are there, they're saying, "The mountain won't have us right now. You’ve got to respect the mountain." And you just sort of believe that it can be done and then you make it happen. How do you summon that?
Look brother, I think I'm always honest. High-altitude mountaineering is not a joke, because you are against the elements, and nature has got bigger things to say. There's a very fine line between being brave and stupid at extreme high-altitude. If you’re hoping things will be okay, you are not in a good place, because anything can go wrong. But yeah, as you see on film, 90 percent of people had given up on K2 in 2019, and the 10 percent who stayed there stayed because they knew that Nims and his team were going to come, and they were hoping the route would be opened.
They aren't even my clients, I'm not even guiding them. But I'm telling them, because I really like people to achieve their new possible if there's a way: "Look, I will be at the front. So I'm the one who is going to get caught on whatever it is. You guys are coming a day behind. Don't just give up. We can make it happen.” And that's what I did, buddy. For me, it's natural. I find happiness in seeing that, when people achieve their new possible.
Have there been times when you felt that the mountain simply will not have you?
Oh brother, I will tell you this. I have led 26 8,000-meter-peak expeditions so far. 26 out of 26 have been successful—not only reaching the summit, but also bringing everyone home exactly the same way they have left it. No cutting fingers and all that. That is the statistic I have, and nobody in the world has got that, brother.
If I ever climb Everest, I'll go with you.
You have to, bro.
Speaking of your team, in the film you say that Mingma David Sherpa is the strongest climber you’ve ever met. What makes him so strong?
He's like me, he climbs with passion. Other Sherpa brothers have to go and do it because they don't have many options. Mingma David, he does it because he loves it. And also, he’s superhuman. So good. And so good to have him by my side. He is my right-hand man. And now we have the guiding company Elite Exped, together with Mingma Tenzi. Mingma Tenzi is the guy who opened the route singlehandedly on K2, in the Bottleneck. He's badass.
In terms of the superhuman element, in the film you go to the Altitude Centre in London and you test off the charts. It’s hard to put a percentage on these things, but what part of your ability do you think you were born with, and what is down to your years in the special forces, all the work you've put in?
A lot of people who are born in Nepal, they are naturally fit at altitude. Because at altitude, it's a different fitness. But I'm also a fitness machine at sea level. I joined the UK special forces, which is the toughest selection you ever do. If you just look into my training regime, I was carrying 75 pounds, running 20 kilometers in the morning at one o'clock, then got to the military camp, did the normal physical training with the rest of the guys. Then went to the gym, cycled 64 kilometers again, and then front-crawl swimming a hundred times in a 25-meter-length swimming pool. And I used to do that for six months, six days a week.
But a lot of what helped me in this project was decision-making ability. A lot of the places and the crises we’ve been in, it's a very high-intense, high-stress environment. But doesn't matter what that is, you always have to make the right decision. And that's what I took away, to be able to operate in a very stressful environment. I think that's why it makes me different, the combination of both.
You often highlight your team members throughout the movie, and that’s tied your feeling that Nepalese mountaineers do not get their respect. What would that look like on the world stage?
As long as people give them the credit with the right name and all that, it's fine. And not just say like, "My Sherpa," because it's like saying, "Yeah, my Nepalese friend helped me." I'm like, "Come on. He has a name and all that, support him.” We're not there yet, brother. I think, again, even with how it is, this movie, the book, if it was equally done by any European or Western climber, everything would have been double. But hey, I think the whole world is changing now, and eventually people will understand that.
During Project Possible, you took that photo on Everest of all the people lining up to summit at once. There’s been talk of more inexperienced climbers trying to do it, all of that, but what does it do to the experience of climbing a mountain like that to have so many people up there with you?
So that queue photo was massively misinterpreted by journalists, and these big newspapers around the world. They posted it all over without interviewing me, and they didn't even give the credit. So I hope people will realize that and make that correction. Second thing was, Everest that season was completely different, completely crazy, because normally you get like three or four weather windows. That season, that was the only one, and everybody had to go. Imagine you are there for two months, you have obviously emptied your savings and all that, what would you do? You would go and you'd give it a try. But the brutal reality is nobody died, and no incident happened other than that people were stuck in the queue. But the newspapers and all that, they kind of love to say all these things.
People speak with little knowledge. People complain or make comments from—staying in their home on a comfortable sofa. They don’t know what climbing is, what mountaineering is, and they’re the first one to comment. And why? Because I think people are in so much bad these days that they don't want any positivity. Among work colleagues, in the circle, if somebody climbs Everest, people will automatically say, "Nowadays everybody climbs Everest." And no, you can’t change Everest. Just because however many thousand people run the London Marathon, it doesn't become easier, does it? It's still the same marathon. It's still the same climb. So please don't be so stupid to lower other people down.
Yeah. I mean, I haven't gotten close to climbing it. I can't hate on anybody.
Yeah, you can come and do it. And people say, again, “Nothing is impossible,” right? You get things done properly, the human body is capable of doing everything. Yes, for some it may take longer. I cannot run like Usain Bolt, and Usain Bolt can come and climb, but we're different. But I can help Usain Bolt to climb Everest, and maybe he can come and help me to run a bit faster?
Speaking of your ability, you climbed the third highest mountain in the world, Kanchenjunga, while you were hungover after a night out in Kathmandu. In retrospect, do you feel that was a little reckless, or you have no regrets?
No, bro. No regret. And I hadn't even slept for six days by that point. We climbed Dhaulguri five days and nights, nonstop. Got to Kathmandu, and this Chinese billionaire was saying that, "I may want to go to Kanchenjunga." He's a mountaineer, so I was like, "Okay, if he comes then there's our money for the project, right?" If I guide. So I went to him and we did big celebration drinking, and in morning he said, "I don't want to go." And I'm like, "Oh my God. Okay." Then I have to go anyway. And then it's straight into base camp, food, get my gear ready, and I'm straight to the summit. Because most people sleep at camp one, camp two, camp three and camp four, then go. I wasn't doing that.
And a crazy thing happened. At 8,450 meters, we found a climber who ran out of oxygen, so I gave my oxygen to him. We started rescuing him, and then another few meters down there's another climber who ran out of oxygen. Mingma gave him his oxygen. And the big thing here is, coming off the oxygen when you're not acclimatized, only a few people can do that. Because it's a suicidal mission. Then rescuing and dragging the body—conducting the rescue is a next-level game. And I was really disappointed on that, because there were more than 40 climbers at camp four who were so rested. They had gone on from camp one, sleep, camp to sleep, all this strategy. And none of them came to help. People start turning their radio off and all that.
So yeah, when I got there, I didn't want to speak to anybody. I just got down to base camp. And I went to Everest for the next mission.
I ask this for future arguments with a spouse of my own: How did you convince your wife to let you remortgage the house to fund this expedition?
I think simply in the vision. My vision was not about me or ourselves, it was bigger than us. We wanted to show the world that literally no matter what your background is, you can inspire, you can prove that nothing is impossible. And equally, I really had to uplift the names of these underrepresented climbers from Nepal. And she also believed in that reason, and she supported me.
But also, for yourself: how you convince her is that you may come back as a better man for five weeks of your time away. Yeah. Adventure gives a lot of things to people. It simplifies the life.
At one point in the film, you say, "At the summit your soul becomes part of the mountain." What did you mean by that?
Because over there, life is simpler. You're not worrying about how much of a mortgage you have, all these things that you feel like you've been entangled in this social—all these things that people worry about here. I become alive when I'm at 8,000 meters. That’s my element.
The reason why I started climbing in the first place was…When you join the Gurkha you have to go through competing against 32,000 people, and only 230 make it. Then imagine Nims is now in the Gurkhas, and nobody has ever made it in the SBS, Special Boat Service, and I became the first ever Gurkha in 200 years to do that. Not only that, now I'm operating in this crazy environment where you have seen some crazy bad shit, like, next level stuff. You think you're invincible, you really think it. And then I went to the mountain, and it made me feel very humble as well. Nature has always bigger things to say. I love that part, but then I also started loving just the bigger challenges. What I found in mountaineering was something that would put me onto my back foot if I'm not giving 100%, and I love that aspect.
Is there anything about climbing an eight-thousander that you can’t capture on film?
A lot of things, bro. A lot of things. Why do people not even have a picture [from their expeditions]? Because to take your gloves off and take out your camera, iPhone, and capture one second is a huge tax for many people. It's that hard. And to film all these things is a next level. I can only explain to those people who have been there. They’re only worried about [one thing] when they’re in a survival situation. If you're drowning in the water, would you get the camera out and then film yourself?
When you’re climbing K2 in winter, how do you stay warm? What are you wearing?
Multi layers of clothes. You got base layers, on top of one base layer you got another base layer, then you got fleece, on top of fleece you got a down jacket, on down jacket you got another big down jacket, and you have the big summit suit. So all in you must be wearing more than 15 kg [33 pounds].
Can you tell me anything about your next expedition, or is it top secret?
I'm guiding for Elite Exped this April and May in Everest and Lhotse. Equally, I have just announced a big project where we are bringing the rubbish down from The Death Zone [the area above 8,000 meters on a mountain]. And then obviously it's going to get recycled. I really believe that we have to play our part in order to bring the sustainability back in and protect our planet. So after Everest and Lhotse, in June and July I will be cleaning up K2.
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