 Purja in 2021 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Nationality | British,[7][8][9] Non-Resident Nepali Citizenship (since 9 November 2023)[10] |
| Born | (1983-07-25)25 July 1983 (age 42)[11] |
Spouse | Suchi Purja |
| Children | Himani Purja[12] |
| Relative | Tejan Gurung (Brother in Law)[13] |
| Climbing career | |
| Major ascents | Ascent of all fourteeneight-thousander mountains, with a time of six months and six days (supplemental oxygen aid) – a record time until 2023. Fastest ascent ofMount Everest,Lhotse andMakalu, in 48 hours[1][2][3] First winter ascent ofK2[4][5][6] |
Nirmal Purja (known asNims orNimsdai[14])MBE (Nepali:निर्मल पुर्जा; born 25 July 1983[11]) is a Nepalesemountaineer. Prior to taking on a career in mountaineering, he served in theBritish Army with theBrigade of Gurkhas followed by theSpecial Boat Service (SBS), the special forces unit of theRoyal Navy.[11][15]
Purja is notable for having climbed all 14eight-thousanders (peaks above 8,000 metres or 26,000 feet) in a time of six months and six days with the aid ofbottled oxygen between April and October 2019.[16] This was a record at the time of climbing, although it was broken in 2023 byKristin Harila andTenjen Sherpa, who summitted all 14eight-thousanders in 92 days. Purja was the first person to reach the summits ofMount Everest,Lhotse andMakalu within 48 hours. In 2021, Purja, along with a team of nine other Nepalese climbers, completed the first winter ascent ofK2.[17][18][19]
Nirmal ("Nims") Purja was born in July 1983 in Dana, a small village in Nepal'sMyagdi District[20] nearDhaulagiri, at 1,600 m above sea level.[21] At age 4, his family moved lower down to theChitwan District near Kathmandu.[21] His father was a Gurkha soldier and his mother was from a farming background.[21] Being from two differentNepalese castes, their marriage was frowned upon and they were cut off financially and socially from their respective families.[21] Purja toldNational Geographic, "We came from a really poor family", and "As a kid, I remember I didn't even have flip-flops".[21]
His three much older brothers became Gurkha soldiers and they funded Purja to attend an English-speaking boarding school.[21] During his schooling, Purja became proficient inkick-boxing.[21] He later attendedLoughborough University (England), where he received apostgraduate diploma in security management.[22]
Purja joined the Brigade of Gurkhas in 2003, and was accepted into theRoyal Navy'sSpecial Boat Service (SBS) in 2009,[20] becoming the first Gurkha to join the elite British unit.[11] He served in the Special Boat Service as acold-weather warfare specialist.[11][23]Ministry of Defence regulations prohibit Purja from discussing his activities with the SBS, however he said that he was involved in all theatres of war that Britain was involved in, and he was wounded after taking a sniper bullet that missed his neck by striking the butt of the stock of his rifle.[21]
In 2018, he passed on a surprise invitation to join theSpecial Air Services (SAS) unit, and resigned from the SBS as aLance Corporal,[24] in order to focus full-time on his high-altitude mountaineering career and projects.[21] At the time, Purja had become an important contributor to his family while serving in the military,[25] and was passing up his army pension (which he called "a life-changing" amount of money).[21]
He made his first major Himalayan climb in 2012, reaching the summit ofLobuche East with no previous experience as a mountaineer. On 18 May 2014, he made his first ascent of aneight-thousander by summitingDhaulagiri (8,167 metres) during a return trip of only 15 days.[26] On 13 May 2016, Purja summitedMount Everest, his second eight-thousander.[26]
On 15 May 2017,[26] Purja led the Gurkha Expedition "G200E", which summited Everest together with 13 Gurkhas to commemorate 200 years of Gurkha service in the British Army.[27] He has climbed Mount Everest six times: the third time 27 May 2017,[28] the fourth time 22 May 2019,[29] the fifth time 31 May 2021[30] and the sixth time 15 May 2022.[31]
On 9 June 2018, he was appointed aMember of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) byQueen Elizabeth II[24] for his outstanding work in high altitude mountaineering.
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With a plan to complete all 14eight-thousanders in seven months, Purja summited the first mountain on 23 April 2019 and completed the first six-summit phase of his "Project Possible 14/7"[1] on 24 May 2019:Annapurna,Dhaulagiri,Kangchenjunga,Mount Everest,Lhotse andMakalu.[1] He climbed withSherpasMingma Gyabu “David” Sherpa,Lakpa Dendi (Zekson Son), Geljen Sherpa and Tensi Kasang, amongst other mountaineers. The last five summits were climbed in only 12 days. He broke his previous Guinness World Record by climbing Mount Everest, Lhotse, and Makalu within 2 days and 30 minutes.[26][32][33][34][35][36]
Purja completed the second phase in July 2019, climbingNanga Parbat (8126 m, 3 July),Gasherbrum I (8080 m, 15 July),Gasherbrum II (8034 m, 18 July),K2 (8611 metres, 24 July) andBroad Peak (8047 m, 26 July), all in Pakistan.[37][38]
The third and last phase started in September 2019. He summittedCho Oyu (8188 m,Tibet,China) on 23 September andManaslu (8163 m, Nepal) on 27 September. On 1 October 2019, Chinese authorities agreed to grant Purja and his team a special permit to scaleShishapangma (8027 m, Tibet, China) in the autumn season, at the request of the Nepali government.[39] Purja left Nepal for Tibet on 18 October 2019, leading a five-member expedition to climb the mountain[40] and completed Project Possible 14/7 with a successful summit on 29 October using supplemental oxygen.[41][2]
Research published in 2022 noted that during Project 14/7, Purja had stopped at the rocky fore summit of Dhaulagiri, and also at the ridge point on Manaslu.[42]
Other than the fastest ascent with supplemental oxygen of the 14 tallest mountains in the world, Purja broke the following records: most 8000 m mountains in the spring season, climbing six; most 8000 m mountains in the summer season, climbing five; fastest summit of the three highest mountains in the world, Everest, K2 and Kangchenjunga; fastest summit of the five highest mountains in the World, Everest, K2, Kangchenjunga, Lhotse and Makalu; fastest lower 8000ers, Gasherbrum 1, 2 and Broad Peak; fastest higher 8000ers, consecutive summits of Everest, Lhotse and Makalu in 48 hours (beats his own previous record of 5 days).[1]
Whilst attempting Project Possible in May 2019, a photo taken by Purja of the overcrowding on Mount Everest went viral and was shown inThe New York Times.[43]
Project Possible has been documented as a Netflix Documentary called14 Peaks: Nothing Is Impossible which was launched on 29 November 2021.[44][45]
Purja, along with nine other Nepali mountaineers, made history on 16 January 2021 as the first to climbK2 in the harsh weather conditions of the winter. His team consisting ofMingma David Sherpa, Mingma Tenzi Sherpa, Geljen Sherpa, Pem Chiri Sherpa, Dawa Temba Sherpa and himself, joined by the team of Mingma Gyalje Sherpa (Mingma G), Dawa Tenjin Sherpa and Kilu Pemba Sherpa, and Sona Sherpa fromSeven Summits Treks successfully ascended K2 at 16:58 local time in Pakistan.[46][17][18][19] This is the first successful K2 winter expedition after numerous attempts since 1987. Purja was the only team member to reach the summit without using supplemental oxygen, becoming the first person to do so in winter.[47][48]
After terrible weather conditions hit the lower camps at the foot of K2[49] and some equipment was lost, Nepali mountaineers of these three teams decided to join efforts and climb the peak together, as a team.
In May 2022, Purja set a new speed record for ascending Kangchenjunga, Mount Everest, and Lhotse consecutively without oxygen, with a time of 8 days 23 hours, and 10 minutes. He ascended Kangchenjunga on 7 May at 10:50 am, Mount Everest on 15 May at 8 am (his sixth ascent of Mount Everest), and after 26 hours, on 16 May, at 10 am, ascended Lhotse.[31]
On 4 October 2024, Purja broke two world records after summiting Shishapangma: the fastest time to summit all 14 peaks with no supplementary oxygen (2 years and 5 months); and, the fastest to summit all 14 peaks both with and without supplementary oxygen.[50]
On 21 October 2024, Purja broke yet another record by becoming the first person to summit the 14 peaks and theSeven Summits both with and without supplementary oxygen.[51]
In 2025, Purja announced his latest challenge – called the Hat-Trick Challenge – the aim being to complete the 14 Peaks and the Seven Summits for the third time.[52] Purja announced he would be self-funding the project, with all donations and sponsorship money going to support the Nimsdai Foundation.[53] The Foundation's mission is to support the Big Mountain communities through initiatives including education, emergency aid and environmental projects. The most high-profile project is the Big Mountain Clean Up[54] – launched to remove waste from the high peaks.[55]
On July 3, 2025, Purja announced that he had summitted Nanga Parbat in Pakistan. This was his 50th successful summit of an 8,000m peak, and his 22nd 8,000er without the use of supplementary oxygen.[56] This sets two new records for Purja – the most successful summits by any climber and the most successful summits without oxygen use.[57][58]
Research published in 2022 could only verifythree climbers, including Purja, (the other two beingEd Viesturs andVeikka Gustafsson), to have stood on the true geographical summit of all 14 eight-thousanders.[42] The researchers noted that during Project 14/7, Purja had stopped at the rocky fore summit of Dhaulagiri, and also at the ridge point on Manaslu.[42] However, they noted that Purja had corrected this in autumn 2021 when he went to the true summits of both mountains.[42]
The following table lists all of Purja's ascents of eight-thousander peaks:
| S.no. | Eight-thousander peak (height) | Date of ascent |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Mount Everest (8848 m) | 13 May 2016, 15 May 2017, 27 May 2017, 22 May 2019, 31 May 2021, 15 May 2022 |
| 2. | K2 (8611 m) | 24 July 2019, 16 January 2021, 22 July 2022[59] |
| 3. | Kangchenjunga (8586 m) | 15 May 2019, 7 May 2022 |
| 4. | Lhotse (8516 m) | 27 May 2017, 22 May 2019, 16 May 2022 |
| 5. | Makalu (8485 m) | 1 June 2017, 24 May 2019 |
| 6. | Cho Oyu (8188 m) | 23 September 2019 |
| 7. | Dhaulagiri (8167 m) | 18 May 2014, 12 May 2019, 8 October 2021 |
| 8. | Manaslu (8163 m) | 27 September 2019, 27 September 2021 |
| 9. | Nanga Parbat (8125 m) | 3 July 2019 |
| 10. | Annapurna (8091 m) | 23 April 2019, 15 April 2024[60] |
| 11. | Gasherbrum I (8080 m) | 15 July 2019 |
| 12. | Broad Peak (8051 m) | 26 July 2019 |
| 13. | Gasherbrum II (8034 m) | 18 July 2019 |
| 14. | Shishapangma (8027 m) | 29 October 2019 |
Purja is ofMagar descent.[47][61] He was raised as aHindu.[62] He is married to Suchi Purja (the daughter of a Gurkha soldier), and they live inHampshire.[21] Purja has three much older brothers (who were also all Gurkha soldiers).[21][63] In 2023, he was awarded an honorary degree fromLoughborough University for his outstanding military service and achievements as a multi-world record-breaking mountaineer.[64]
In May 2024, two women accused Purja of sexual harassment and assault. Dr. April Leonardo, a family physician from Quincy, California, alleges Purja repeatedly grabbed, kissed, and propositioned her during an expedition to K2 in June 2022. Professional mountaineer and former Miss FinlandLotta Hintsa alleges Purja sexually assaulted her in a hotel suite in Kathmandu, Nepal, in March 2023. According to theNew York Times article, Purja refused requests for an interview, and gave a written statement through his lawyer, Philip M. Kelly, denying the allegations and calling them "false and defamatory."[65] Purja made a statement on Instagram where he denied the allegations and called them 'heinous' and alleged the NYT article left out 'key context and details from multiple witnesses.'[66]
In February 2025, the podcast Summit Justice was released by DBBC Productions.[67] The four-part series investigates the allegations made in the New York Times article of May 2024, and details an alleged multi-year smear campaign that Purja states he and his family faced. The series interviews fellow climbers, former co-workers, journalists, lawyers and Purja himself – who speaks for the first time about why he denies the NYT story.[68] It also reaches out to the two women who made allegations.[69]
In 2025, the Nepal Press Council blacklistedThe Himalayan Times and removed its government-funded advertising following an investigation into 'imbalanced' articles about mountaineer Nirmal "Nims" Purja and his companies, Skydive Nimsdai and Elite Exped.[70]
Over the course of 2024, 17 articles were published inThe Himalayan Times, alleging wrongdoing by Purja and his businesses. In response, Purja and his companies filed a complaint with the Nepal Press Council, prompting an investigation.[71]
On 20 February 2025, the Council ruled that the publication had breached the Journalistic Code of Conduct, stating that the articles were "unilateral and imbalanced, aimed at creating hatred and discrimination, and potentially causing damage to individuals." As a result, they decidedThe Himalayan Times was blacklisted, and government-funded advertising was withdrawn.[72]
The Himalayan Times responded on March 12, 2025, alleging the Nepal Press Council ‘has made an arbitrary decision to take 'unconstitutional action'’ against them.[73]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes | Ref(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 14 Peaks: Nothing Is Impossible | Himself | [74] |
| International | |
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| National | |
| People | |
| Other | |
