Nepali mountain climber Nirmal Purja was born in a village in western Nepal in south Asia. As a teenager he joined the Gurkhas, a group of Nepalis in the British army famous for their fearlessness.
His love for mountain climbing began in 2012 when he hiked to the Everest based camp, he then Climbed to the top of the 20,075-foot lobuche peak. In 2014 he climbed his first 5-mile-high mountain in Dhaulagiri, western Nepal.
In 2016 he took a break from the army after being stationed in Afghanistan, in the Middle East. His break was coincidentally the same time as climbing season. So, he decided to make his first climb to Everest.
Later he swapped his army boots for ice hiking shoes. He quit the military after sixteen years of service.
Purja started his journey to climb all fourteen mountains in April. First up- Mount Annapurna. After he then went to the Himalayas to climb five more in the mountain range, Everest included. He then went climb five more in Pakistan’s Karakorum range. He after came to his last three mountains in which his final and smallest mountain was Shisapangma.
Now Nepali climber Nirmal Purja has climbed the worlds fourteen highest mountains in just six months and six days! He now holds the record for the fastest climb of these fourteen mountains. Italian climber Reinhold Messner was the first to complete this fourteen-mountain climb in 1986. It took him sixteen years to complete. South Korean Kim Chang-ho holds the previous record for speed, but he did not use supplementary bottled oxygen, Purja however did.
Purja hopes his record-breaking climb will inspire other Nepali climbers to break his record in the years to come.
I think Purja will totally motivate and inspire other Nepali climbers to break his record. I also think what he accomplished will encourage Neplai children and children across the world to take on mountain climbing and one day break his record.
This article is truly astounding! It really opens your eyes about the amazing things the human mind and body can demonstrate. It really proves the statement “Anything is possible.” Anything really is possible if you put effort, and your blood and sweat as they say.
In the article Purja says, “It has been a grueling but humbling six months, and I hope to have proven that anything is possible with some determination, self-belief, and positivity.” (Newsela) I totally agree with this; it is very motivating. I think what he said summed up his journey very well.
In the article he also says, when he told others how he wanted to take on this journey and break the record, people laughed at him. It must have felt a little bit like when you get revenge on your sibling for them poking you, to complete the goal and prove them wrong. I think it would also come as a relief. He must have had doubts and challenges he thought he would never overcome along the way, so in another way completing the goal could have reassured himself.
To be able to stand on the top of a mountain after making a treacherous climb must feel so rewarding. I’m sure everyone has felt and loves the feeling of when you work so hard for something and it rewards you in the end.
Nepali climber Nirmal Purja is a thirty-six-year-old mountain climber who has beaten the world record for climbing the highest mountains in the world in record time. He started in the army as a teenager but traded his army boots for ice hiking shoes. Now he has conquered his goal and beaten the world record! His story is truly inspiring, and he hopes to encourage Nepali children to break his record. But I think this is also inspiring to children and even adults across the world. To me this story proves anything is possible if you work hard, pour your heart into it and put some effort in!
“Every mountain top is within reach if you just keep climbing.”
-Barry Finaly
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