Beyond Possible One Man, Fourteen Peaks, and the Mountaineering Achievement of a Lifetime

by Purja, Nims

• ISBN13: 9781426222535
• ISBN10: 142622253X
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2022-01-04
• Publisher: National Geographic

Summary

Nepali climber Nims Purja is the first man ever to summit all fourteen of the world’s 8000 meter “Death Zone” peaks in less than seven months. His breakthrough timing beat 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.

Author Biography

Nirmal "Nims" Purja is a Nepalese mountaineer and a holder of multiple mountaineering world records. Prior to taking on a career in mountaineering, he served with the British Armed Forces as a Nepalese Gurkha, and was a soldier in the Special Boat Service (SBS), an elite special forces unit of the Royal Navy. Purja is notable for having climbed all 14 of Earth’s eight-thousanders (mountain peaks above 8,000 meters or 26,000 feet) in a record time of six months and six days with the aid of bottled oxygen, beating the previous record of just under eight years. He was also the first to reach the summits of Mount Everest, Lhotse, and Makalu in a time period of 48 hours. In 2021, Purja, along with a team of nine other Nepalese mountaineers, successfully completed the first-ever winter ascent of Pakistan’s K2.

Table of Contents

Contents
1 Death or Glory2 Hope Is God3 Better to Die Than to Be a Coward4 The Unrelenting Pursuit of Excellence5 Into the Death Zone6 Swimming to the Moon7 The Mission8 The Highest Stakes9 Respect Is Earned…10 The Normality of the Extreme11 Rescue!12 Into the Dark13 In Times of Chaos14 Summit Fever15 The Politics of a Mountain16 Quitting’s Not in the Blood17 Through the Storm18 The Savage Mountain19 A Mountain Mind20 The People’s Project21 Epic Afterword