Early Life
Nirmal ("Nims") Purja was born in July 1983 in Dana, a small village in Nepal's Myagdi District near Dhaulagiri, at 1,600 m above sea level. At age 4, his family moved lower down to the Chitwan District near Kathmandu. His father was a Gurkha soldier and his mother was from a farming background. Being from two different Nepalese castes, their marriage was frowned upon and they were cut off financially and socially from their respective families. Purja told National Geographic, "We came from a really poor family", and "As a kid, I remember I didn't even have flip-flops". His three much older brothers became Gurkha soldiers and they funded Purja to attend an English-speaking boarding school. During his schooling, Purja became proficient in kick-boxing. He later attended Loughborough University (England), where he received a postgraduate diploma in security management.
Climbing Career
He made his first major Himalayan climb in 2012, reaching the summit of Lobuche East with no previous experience as a mountaineer. On 18 May 2014, he made his first ascent of an eight-thousander by summiting Dhaulagiri (8,167 metres) during a return trip of only 15 days. On 13 May 2016, Purja summited Mount Everest, his second eight-thousander. On 15 May 2017, Purja led the Gurkha Expedition "G200E", which summited Everest together with 13 Gurkhas to commemorate 200 years of Gurkha service in the British Army. He has climbed Mount Everest six times: the third time 27 May 2017, the fourth time 22 May 2019, the fifth time 31 May 2021 and the sixth time 15 May 2022. On 9 June 2018, he was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) by Queen Elizabeth II for his outstanding work in high altitude mountaineering.
Purja, along with nine other Nepali mountaineers, made history on 16 January 2021 as the first to climb K2 in the harsh weather conditions of the winter. His team consisting of Mingma 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 from Seven Summits Treks successfully ascended K2 at 16:58 local time in Pakistan. 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. After terrible weather conditions hit the lower camps at the foot of K2 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. 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. On 21 October 2024, Purja broke yet another record by becoming the first person to summit the 14 peaks and the Seven Summits both with and without supplementary oxygen. 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. Purja announced he would be self-funding the project, with all donations and sponsorship money going to support the Nimsdai Foundation. 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 - launched to remove waste from the high peaks. On July 3rd, 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. This sets two new records for Purja - the most successful summits by any climber and the most successful summits without oxygen use.
Courtesy : Wikipedia
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