New Netflix Film on Nirmal Purja Climbing World’s Highest 14 Peaks in 189 Days
In 2019, he climbed all 8,000-metre peaks in just over six months. A new film will be released at the end of November that documents the historical accomplishment
Nirmal “Nims” Purja reported from the summit of Shishapangma with his teammates Mingma David Sherpa, Galjen Sherpa and Gesman Tamang that he’d achieved his mission with a message that read, “Mission achieved.” That was back in October 2019.
The Nepalese former British soldier had climbed the 14 8,000-metre mountains in less than seven months. His record-breaking 189-day accomplishment often takes other climbers years, if not decades, to achieve.
His half-a-year-mission will be told in a new film called 14 Peaks: Nothing is Impossible. It will be released on Netflix worldwide on Nov. 29, translated to 31 different languages, later this season.
“It was an incredible feeling – and it was a victory for everyone,” Purja said. “For everyone that has a dream, for everyone that wants to go above and beyond. I wanted my 14 Peaks Challenge to inspire people with the love of the Big Mountains, but more than that, I want everyone to know that if you set your mind to something you can achieve it – no matter who you are and where you come from.”
The first climber to climb the 14 8,000-metre peaks was Reinhold Messner in 1986, who also climbed them without supplemental oxygen. Purja used supplementary oxygen for his ascents. “I have to get back down, so that I can reach the next mountain. I listen to my body. You must have humility so that you can get home. You can always go again without oxygen if that is what is so important, but you can’t if you’re dead.”
Purja began his six-month challenged, named Bremont Project Possible, when he climbed Annapurna on April 23, 2019. On May 22, he reached the summit of Mount Everest along with 320 other mountaineers. Purja and his team were required to obtain a special permit from the China Tibet Mountaineering Association because China had closed Shishapangma.
Purja was also involved in four rescues during his climbs that year. In April, he led a rescue of Dr. Chin Wui Kin on Annapurna. Then on 15 May, after climbing Kanchenjunga in 21 hours, he and his team rescued a two climbers from 8,400 metres.
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