Nirmal Purja Aims to Climb all 8,000ers in Single Year
Nirmal Purja will be attempting to climb all 14 of the 8,000-metre Himalayan peaks in a single seven-month season this year. His Project Possible aims to raise awareness of mental health and support orphanages, disabled and children in need in Nepal. This will break the previous record of seven years, 11 months and 14 days.
“Coming from a military background, I have witnessed many friends and colleagues who have gone through mental distress and mental health issues during and post their time in the service,” he said on his fundraising page here. “I would like to raise awareness and support this by implementing the importance of positive mental attitude for healthy wellbeing.”
He also hopes to support Nepal’s most impoverished children by providing relevant aids to orphanages to implement vital health care and education within a safeguarded environment.
His current world records are the fastest time ever from the summit of Everest to the summit of Lhotse, taking a total of 10 hours 15 minutes, beating the previous record of 20 hours; the fastest consecutive summits of Everest, Lhotse and Makalu (Higher 8000m peaks) taking a total of five days; and the first person to summit Everest twice, Lhotse once and Makalu once, in the same season, taking a total of 17 days.
Visit his fundraising page here for more info and to support his goal.