Joe Rogan Experience #1790 - Nims Purja

Nims Purja 0:00 (drumbeats) Joe Rogan podcast, check it out. The Joe Rogan Experience.

Joe Rogan 0:06 Train by day, Joe Rogan podcast by night, all day. (rock music) Well, hey, man, it's a pleasure to meet you.

Nims Purja 0:14 Hey, good to meet you. Are we starting?

Joe Rogan 0:16 Yeah, we're rolling, man.

Nims Purja 0:18 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 0:18 (laughs)

Nims Purja 0:18 I like it. No messing around. No messing around.

Joe Rogan 0:21 I found out about your documentary from my friend, Cam Hanes. He's the one who told me about it. Uh, he, uh, he texted me and he said, "It's fucking incredible." And Cam is, uh, he does a lot of, uh, ultra-marathons and he does like, those 240-mile runs, those kind of things.

Nims Purja 0:36 Wow.

Joe Rogan 0:36 So, he's one of those guys that like, he appreciates someone doing something completely insane. And so, he, he turned me onto it. He had glowing recommendations, so I had to, I had to check it out. It's, it's incredible what you did. The doc- the documentary's insane.

Nims Purja 0:50 Well, I must say, thanks, Cam, first things first.

Joe Rogan 0:54 Yeah.

Nims Purja 0:54 And here we are. And, uh, did you, did you enjoy the film?

Joe Rogan 0:57 I did. I enjoyed it very much. It's, uh, it's incredibly impressive. And, um, when, you know, you just came here from England, right? Is that what you're telling me?

Nims Purja 1:06 Yeah. So sure-

Joe Rogan 1:07 Can you explain to me like, why, why you're in England?

Nims Purja 1:10 Yeah, so, um, there is a big thing called the Gurkhas, um, going back into 206 years ago, um, the British, when they were trying to run over the world, take over the world, the British Empire was in India. And, uh, when they were in India, they were trying to take over Nepal as well 'cause it's a neighboring country. Um, but, you know, they didn't had a luck (laughs) , they didn't had a chance. So, at that point, what, uh, the British government said was, "Hey, you know, we'll not attack Nepal anymore, but you know what? Is there any chance we can have, you know, all these, you know, you know, brave guys, you know, fighting for us?" And at that point, um, the prime minister, the, the, the government of Nepal were really, you know, sick of, you know, this heavy force coming with art- artilleries, you know, the big guns and, and attacking. So they were like, "You know what? Yeah, we happy." So...

Joe Rogan 2:06 So, they made some sort of a truce?

Nims Purja 2:08 Yeah, so-

Joe Rogan 2:08 And then-

Nims Purja 2:09 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 2:09 ... Nepal joined in with England?

Nims Purja 2:11 Yes, yes.

Joe Rogan 2:12 Hmm, I see.

Nims Purja 2:12 So, now it's 206 years and it's a big thing for us. So, I grew up dreaming to be a Gurkha. So, that was my like, childhood dream. And, uh, just to give an example, Joe, um, when I joined for the Gurkha, when I went for the selection, there were like, 32,000 people applying for it.

Joe Rogan 2:34 Wow.

Nims Purja 2:34 And only 230 can make it. So, you can, you can do the ratio how tough it is. And, uh, but yeah, you know what? A lot of people say like, "Nims, you know, you know, you are here and, you know, you are successful and all that." But you know, mei, my success is, is not a coincidence. Going back where I was and specifically, you know, coming from really humbling background, like, forget everything. We didn't even have like, flip-flops. You know, forget the, the food. We didn't even have like, to eat meat. We had to wait for like, a big festival like Christmas. So, coming from that super poverty to, to where I am, and sometimes people say, "Oh, yeah, Nims is this and that," you know? Well, it took me 38 years to be, to be where I am.

Joe Rogan 3:20 The people in America that aren't aware of the real poverty in the world and, and, you know, the, the, what people like to call the 1%.

Nims Purja 3:29 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 3:29 People always like to use that term. But in America, the 1% we think of like, very, very wealthy people. If you look at the 1% of the world, if you make $34,000, you're in the top 1% of the world.

Nims Purja 3:42 Wow.

Joe Rogan 3:42 Which is incredible. I mean, it's, it's a very small amount of money. It's al- it's almost like, uh, what is 1% in Ameri- what is $34,000 in America technically? Is that... Is it lower middle class? Is it lower class? Like, I mean, you're, you're, you're struggling.

Nims Purja 3:58 Yes.

Joe Rogan 3:59 You're, you're struggling in America if you make $34,000 a year.

Nims Purja 4:01 Wow, but that is, that is quite a lot of money for like, you know, like, a country-

Joe Rogan 4:04 For the rest of the world, yeah.

Nims Purja 4:05 ... and like, Nepal specifically.

Joe Rogan 4:08 Yeah.

Nims Purja 4:09 Yeah, so I was, uh, going back to this story, Joe, if, if my, if, may I finish this.

Joe Rogan 4:12 Yeah, please, yeah.

Nims Purja 4:13 So, you know, what I believe in is making things happen. There's no excuses, right? So, my two brothers were, you know, in the Gurkhas, and once they joined the Gurkhas, they were like, "You know what? I want my sister and my brother to go to the boarding school." So, they sent us to boarding school. Um, and my brothers are like my father, like my elder brother is 18 and a half year older than me, so...

Joe Rogan 4:41 Wow.

Nims Purja 4:41 So, in this school, like, we are not allowed to leave the compound. Uh, but I really wanted to be like, in the Gurkha. So when I was like, you know, 15, 16 year old, I used to wake up at one o'clock at night and I used to go like, you know, without permission, I used to run 30 kilometers in the morning before like, anybody finds out, and I come and, and pretend like I'm waking from my bed and, and I used to, you know, walk with a toothbrush and toothpaste pretending I have never left the compound. But I had to make it work because I knew that the selection is so tough, you know?

Joe Rogan 5:15 And how old were you when you were doing this?

Nims Purja 5:17 I was, I was 16. I started when I was 15, so a year of training like that.

Joe Rogan 5:20 And so, you just had it in your head like, "Listen, I'm gonna be in a Gurkha."

Nims Purja 5:23 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 5:23 "I'm gonna be a Gurkha. I have to get in crazy shape."

Nims Purja 5:26 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 5:26 "So, I'm gonna work out when no one knows."

Nims Purja 5:28 Yeah, yeah, because you know, if, if the teacher would find out that I have left the compound, mei, they in Nepal, they beat like, you know ... (laughs) they beat the hell out of you, so...

Joe Rogan 5:38 Really?

Nims Purja 5:39 Yeah, yeah.

Joe Rogan 5:39 And d- was there any other way that you could train? Is there any...

Nims Purja 5:43 Look, not really, because you know, you start your like, in a school, um, it, it, like, if you, if you stay in the hostel in, from seven o'clock in the morning and you have to have your presence over there and then you finish around four o'clock in the evening. So it's, it's really tight schedule. You study about 14 different subjects. So-Yeah, there wasn't really way. And many of my friends wouldn't know and many of my friends wouldn't probably do that. But I knew that I had to push extra and I had to break that rules and that normal rules and regulation of the school to achieve my goal. And, um, yeah, in 2003, um, I managed to join the Gurkhas. Um, and from there like the story goes on.

Joe Rogan 6:28 Wow.

Nims Purja 6:29 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 6:29 So that was 2003 and that's documented also in the film-

Nims Purja 6:33 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 6:33 ... where you were, you, your rifle got hit with a bullet.

Nims Purja 6:39 Yeah. So, I'll tell you that story. So in 2003, um, I was in the Gurkhas then, you know, coming from Nepal we, we never know about the Special Forces you know. So I joined in the, in the Gurkhas and then we started hearing about names, you know. There's like, you know, a thing called, you know, UK Special Forces like SAS and SBS. So, SAS is equivalent to Delta in US military, SBS is, uh, equivalent to SEAL Team Six-

Joe Rogan 7:10 Mm-hmm.

Nims Purja 7:10 ... um, in, in US military. So, and then they were saying, "You know what? These guys are like the badass, they are like the real James Bond." And I was like hearing, I was like... And at that point, honestly, I didn't even know what real James Bond was. (laughs)

Joe Rogan 7:22 Mm-hmm.

Nims Purja 7:22 So I started obviously looking more into it, doing more research and... Wow. And then I found about, you know, the, the, the Special Boat Service which is, uh, I mentioned, you know, like equivalent to your SEAL Team Six. So, they operate from air, water, in underwater and land, everything. So I was like, "Yes, I wanna be part of that cool group." And when I first talk about it, um, you know, all my friends including my seniors, including captains and s- even some of the, the senior rank that I look up to like in a way I was like, "You know what? I wanna be like those guys." You know, some, some ins- inspiring figures. And they were saying, "Nims, it's impossible because no one has ever made this, you know, in, in the history of the Gurkhas." And I was like, "Really?" And, and I said to them, "Look, you know, it's possible." And they were like... and they started making joke out of me. Then it comes to a certain point where like you don't talk about it anymore, you start doing things. So, and I will tell you this training regime, um, Joe, I used to wake up at one o'clock in the morning.

Joe Rogan 8:28 What time did you go to bed?

Nims Purja 8:30 I'll tell you now, mate.

Joe Rogan 8:31 (laughs)

Nims Purja 8:31 So one o'clock I wake up in the morning then I carry 75, you know, pounds in my bag and I run 20 kilometers.

Joe Rogan 8:39 With 75 pounds on your back you were running?

Nims Purja 8:41 Running 20 k- 20 kilometers then I arrive at the military barracks then I start my normal military running, that could be, you know, eight miler run or, you know, assault training or whatever that military, you know, physical training is. I do that then because I was with the engineers that means, you know, I was on, um, this, you know, kind of thing like building an instructor finisher. So the whole day we are like, you know, plastering the wall and doing that, so it's full on labor work. And in the evening, I run that 20 kilometers back again clean fatigue. So clean fatigue means no burden but I run that distance back again to my house, quick foot. I go to the gym, to the gym and then I cycle 64 kilometers on the push bike.

Joe Rogan 9:25 This is one day?

Nims Purja 9:26 One day. And then, and then, you know, like coming from Nepal, it's a landlocked country. I had never swim, swimming is my like weakest thing. And I front crawl swim 100 lane in 25-meter pool. And I did like that for six months, six days. I never said, "Oh, today, you know, it's raining." I never said, "Today I'm tired." I never said, "Today, you know, there's snow outside." Never. And it was like that.

Joe Rogan 9:53 Where did you get that kind of determination? Where do you think that came from?

Nims Purja 9:56 Like, you know, I, I truly believe that to break this barrier of, you know, a Gurkha, you know, to, to get into... I knew that I have to put more. And you know what? The only big thing the, the friends were saying was like, "Nims, you know, it's not only about physical, you need to have, you know, a great sense of humor, you need to have, you know, common sense and all that." So I was like, "Okay." Then I start looking into English sense of humor, all right? And I was like, you know... So when you go in the selection they will just like, the, the instructor, the DS we call it, directing staff, would call it, "Hey, come here, fucking tell me a joke." And the Nepalese joke is completely different to English sense of humor. So, every day I, I used to prepare different jokes. And I used to go in front and I used to say like different jokes and, and this is how much I was prepared and this is how much I was, I was willing to give. And yeah, in, um, in 200 years of history I become the first Gurkha ever to pass the selection for SBS.

Joe Rogan 10:57 That's amazing. But what I'm, what I'm getting at is like when did you develop this kind of discipline and determination? Is this something that you had from the time when you were a boy? Do you know where this comes from? It was very unusual for... The, what you're saying sounds so crazy. I know you did it.

Nims Purja 11:14 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 11:14 Because I know you climbed the 14 peaks. I know you did it.

Nims Purja 11:17 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 11:17 By the way the, that's the name of the documentary, it's on Netflix. It's amazing. I can't, I can't recommend it enough. It's really excellent. But where did you get that kind of discipline and determination?

Nims Purja 11:29 You know what, Joe? Um, I don't think it's a discipline, it's a self-discipline and that's what it required to be where I'm today.

Joe Rogan 11:37 But that is discipline, that's what I'm saying. I mean-

Nims Purja 11:39 No, no, what I mean by that is, you know, like, yes, I, I, I like that you have to be disciplined.

Joe Rogan 11:45 Right.

Nims Purja 11:45 That's for example, you know, if your parents is waking you up at six o'clock, you still wake up. If you're in the, in the ring or if you're training, you go and you still train but your coach is there and all that, that's not good enough. You know, what I mean by self-discipline and equally with that, the self-motivation thing-... that I really believe was key in my part is being able to wake up when no one is looking at me, when no one is waking me up.

Joe Rogan 12:11 Right.

Nims Purja 12:11 Being able to go and train when no one is looking at me, you know? So-

Joe Rogan 12:16 Mm-hmm.

Nims Purja 12:16 ... the self-motivation and that self-discipline is, is where I really started looking into and believing that, "Nims, if you really want to do something in terms of breaking the, the boundaries and in terms of reaching your full potential, you have to be different." And I start, you know, kind of, you know, planting that into my brain. And, and this is how, you know, I have been where I am today.

Joe Rogan 12:40 So you just sort of willed yourself into this state of discipline, knowing that if you were gonna achieve great things, you had to be able to work when no one was looking?

Nims Purja 12:48 Exactly. Exactly.

Joe Rogan 12:50 And so you just learned this as a boy? You figured this out as a young man?

Nims Purja 12:54 I think it was a, a kind of, you know, development as a kid. So when I was kid, I wanted to be a Gurkha and then, obviously, I- I... That wasn't the, the same level of training as I, as I did for, when I went for the Special Forces selection. But it's a, like, build-up as I grew up through the age and then... And, and I think it's that dream to be able to see yourself in that career stage. So when I was in the Gurkha, I just dreamed to be... When I was kid, I want- I wanted to be a Gurkha. Then when I was a Gurkha, I wanted to be that in Special Forces. And you know what, Joe? I never used to drink anything until I was 25 year old. I was that much, I was that much, you know, I would say ambitious and, and motivated. So, when I passed the selection for SBS, I was like, "You know what? This is the biggest thing I could do in my life. I'm f- I'm a military guy, and I'm gonna drink." And then, obviously, it went obviously (laughs) different. I'm not alcoholic, though. (laughs)

Joe Rogan 13:52 So you started becoming a drinker after that?

Nims Purja 13:54 Well, I started obviously, you know, celebrating differently-

Joe Rogan 13:57 Enjoy.

Nims Purja 13:57 ... and, and enjoying and all that. Uh-

Joe Rogan 13:59 Yeah.

Nims Purja 14:00 ... yeah, as you seen on that, you know, movie on K2 and all that-

Joe Rogan 14:02 Yes.

Nims Purja 14:02 ... I think which we will come a bit later on.

Joe Rogan 14:04 Yes.

Nims Purja 14:04 Yeah, yeah.

Joe Rogan 14:06 Did you have any role models or anyone that you looked up to that was also disciplined when you were younger that you drew strength from?

Nims Purja 14:16 Joe, look, uh, I came from this background where we didn't even had a TV. You know, what we read in the book is, is limited text, and it's all, like, you know, that governmental text, you know, stuff. So... But as I grew older, as I joined, you know, the Gurkhas then the Special Forces, there were, like, really two people who, who I look up to and, uh, the one was Muhammad Ali and the second was Bruce Lee.

Joe Rogan 14:44 (laughs) That's awesome.

Nims Purja 14:45 And them, them two people. Um-

Joe Rogan 14:47 That's awesome.

Nims Purja 14:47 And, and I... Um, look, and s- a lot of people say, "Nims, you went into the mountaineering, you know, who inspired you?" And I was like, "No one," because, you know, I didn't even thought I would go and climb until I was 30 year old.

Joe Rogan 15:01 Hmm.

Nims Purja 15:01 Yeah. (laughs)

Joe Rogan 15:02 So, when you were young and you were running, when you were 16 years old, you'd get up at 1:00 in the morning. That was all just self-motivation?

Nims Purja 15:10 100%.

Joe Rogan 15:10 You didn't know anybody that was like you that did-

Nims Purja 15:13 No.

Joe Rogan 15:13 ... anything like that? That's amazing.

Nims Purja 15:14 I just wanted to fulfill my dream to be, to be a Gurkha.

Joe Rogan 15:18 Yeah.

Nims Purja 15:19 And I think that was, that was my motivation then.

Joe Rogan 15:22 That i- is incredible. It's incredible that you had that much discipline early on. And when I'm hearing about you running with 75 pounds on your back, all I'm thinking is, like, "How did you not destroy your knees?"

Nims Purja 15:32 My... There's only one super human. That's right, he's standing in front of you, brother. (laughs)

Joe Rogan 15:39 (laughs)

Nims Purja 15:40 Uh, I- I- I really don't, I think-

Joe Rogan 15:42 That's a lot of weight to run 20 kilometers with.

Nims Purja 15:44 I think what it got me or what it balanced the whole thing was my swimming element-

Joe Rogan 15:48 Hmm.

Nims Purja 15:49 ... because I used to swim, right? And then, even though my training was super intense and it's, like, you know, the, the, the gravity, the friction part, but-

Joe Rogan 15:56 Mm-hmm.

Nims Purja 15:57 ... unknowingly I was doing, you know, a 100 laps. And I think because, you know, that is more for, like, flexibility and all those stuff, so-

Joe Rogan 16:04 Mm-hmm.

Nims Purja 16:05 ... I think that just happened naturally.

Joe Rogan 16:07 Hmm. Wow, that's, it's, it's incredible. So, when did you decide that you were gonna do this 14 peaks thing and then film this?

Nims Purja 16:18 Okay.

Joe Rogan 16:18 And like, what was, what was the moment where this idea came into your head?

Nims Purja 16:22 So, Joe, there obviously you got- you asked me two question. Let me break down. So 2019, um, at this point, I'd served with the UK Special Forces for 10 years. I've been around the world. I had obviously done some crazy shit, you know, that, you know, people wouldn't have probably see on the movies and all that. So what happened in 2019 was I found a purpose. And, uh, look, just to, just to even put things into perspective, at this point, I had served 16 years in the British military. I had only six years left to get the full pension. So, you know... So if you look from the, the financial perspective, you know, I'm really there to get the full pension, but then I got this idea, like, the, the 14 peaks. So, why I'm doing this? So, I had two purpose. The first one was, look, doesn't matter where you come from, what your background is, whatever that is, you can literally show the world nothing is impossible, no excuses. And the second one was, look, the Nepalese climbing community, the Sherpas, are the king of eight-thousanders, but we never had the right c- you know, like, credits. And I wanted to raise the name of the Nepalese climbers. And those two purpose gave me the strength. So, what happened after that was straightaway I went into the HR. I put my resignation. And people went mental. They were like... You know, my brother specifically, like, (inhales sharply) "Nims, you know what? You're so selfish." Because at this point, I used to send-... you know, a chunk of my salary every month to my mum and dad. I really believe that. And our parents, you know, th- they look after us when we are, like, kids and vulnerable. And as a give back to them when they get older, they're also invulnerable, they cannot work and all that. So, I was always, you know, like, sending them money. So, when I, when I decided about this project and when I put the resignation, I know that there's no money going to them. My brother went really mental. He's like, "Nims, you know, you are the, the most strongest financial contributor in our family. And you know what? None of the Gurkhas have ever been there. You should, you should complete your career." And I was like, "No, brother." And, and we didn't talk for three months, me and my brother. And he's like my father. He's the one who sent me to boarding school.

Joe Rogan 18:57 I'm gonna, I'm gonna slow you down here. Y- so, you had this idea and because of this idea, you decided to resign?

Nims Purja 19:03 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 19:04 This idea of climbing the 14 peaks, when, when it first came into your head, what was your goal? It was just to elevate the Nepalese climbers? Was it to raise money? Was it to raise awareness?

Nims Purja 19:17 No. So it was, again, literally to show the world that nothing's impossible. There's no excuses.

Joe Rogan 19:23 But that's, uh, so-

Nims Purja 19:23 I wanted to-

Joe Rogan 19:24 ... but that's not a career, right? So, you're quitting-

Nims Purja 19:26 It's not a career, yeah.

Joe Rogan 19:27 ... you're quitting your career-

Nims Purja 19:28 100%.

Joe Rogan 19:28 ... to show the world that nothing is impossible.

Nims Purja 19:32 I, I didn't only quit my career. Uh, my brother, I put everything on the line. And, and I'll go in details what I mean by that. So, I resigned. (clears throat) And, um, it was really tough. Um, look, I came from this completely different world, Special Forces background. I had never experienced of doing the fundraising. And when I first talk- start talking about the project, people were like, "Nims, it's not possible." So, for those people who doesn't understand what I was trying to do was, so there are 14 mountains in the world above 8,000 meters and 8,000 meters is, is the death zone peak. And the fastest someone-

Joe Rogan 20:17 8,000. Excuse me. 8,000 meters is what?

Nims Purja 20:19 It's d- it's a, it's a death zone.

Joe Rogan 20:20 It's death zone.

Nims Purja 20:21 So, the reason why it's called death zone is from that altitude, nobody can survive. The human body is literally dying. So, that's why it's called the death zone peak because all those 14 are above 8,000 meters.

Joe Rogan 20:35 So, you can only be up there for a very small amount of time.

Nims Purja 20:37 Very, yeah. Yeah. And, uh, so the fastest time was a week short of eight years. To be precise, it was seven years, 11 months and 14 days. And the guy who tried to break that record broke it only by one week.

Joe Rogan 20:54 Hmm.

Nims Purja 20:54 So, that was, that was that. And then I said, "I will do that in seven months," and people were like, "No. It's impossible." Again, uh, you know, those guys who are listening, just to put this into simple perspective. So, if the record for a full marathon is now two hours, what I was saying there then was, "I'm gonna do that in 10 minutes," and that's why nobody believed in. And, and so it was crazy. And I used to wake up at, like, 4:00, write the email, take early train to London, meet all this, you know, entrepreneurs, you know, corporate organizers and please them, repeat the same thing, come back home, quick food. Then I write again in the follow-up email, "Hey, nice to meet you today." And, you know, follow-up email.

Joe Rogan 21:40 Let me stop you there. Hold on. So, you have this idea. You don't have any experience in filmmaking, you don't have any-

Nims Purja 21:47 Nothing.

Joe Rogan 21:47 ... experience in the media. You have no experience in doing anything in the public eye.

Nims Purja 21:51 No, yeah.

Joe Rogan 21:52 Everything you've done has been-

Nims Purja 21:53 Undercover.

Joe Rogan 21:53 ... just grinding as a Gurkha, grinding as a, a Special Forces operator. This is what you're doing.

Nims Purja 22:01 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 22:01 And then you just decide, "I'm gonna do this and I wanna make a movie about it."

Nims Purja 22:06 Yeah. Yeah.

Joe Rogan 22:07 So, who do you contact? How do you even-

Nims Purja 22:09 So-

Joe Rogan 22:09 ... start that process?

Nims Purja 22:11 Yeah. So, it was, it was tough. So, the first thing was to get the money to, to go and climb, so.

Joe Rogan 22:17 How did you even know how much money you needed?

Nims Purja 22:19 Um, so, you know, the high altitude mountaineering is, is quite expensive. Let's say even-

Joe Rogan 22:25 Right.

Nims Purja 22:25 ... if somebody wanna do this, the whole 14 peaks, um, it will roughly cost around two millions.

Joe Rogan 22:31 $2 million?

Nims Purja 22:32 $2 million. And because I was going as a very, like, bare minimum, 'cause I don't need that much support, you know, I put roughly under a million margin. And you know what, brother? Nothing. Th- there was no funding after one year of, like, going everywhere. And then what I did the first thing was... (fingers snap)

Joe Rogan 22:50 When you say go everywhere, like, how do you even start?

Nims Purja 22:53 You know-

Joe Rogan 22:53 Like, I don't have any experience in that.

Nims Purja 22:55 Can I-

Joe Rogan 22:55 So, I don't know who would I contact to, to fund a giant project where I'm gonna climb 14 peaks?

Nims Purja 23:01 I'll just give you this example. So, one of the example was, you know, I wrote a handwritten letter to, um, who is the owner of Virgin? I Google it. Ah, Richard Branson.

Joe Rogan 23:16 Yeah.

Nims Purja 23:17 Yes. And, you know, I had, I write that in a, a very long letter, full handwritten, and I, I cover that and put the, put those many stamp, so that, you know, it will, you know, (laughs) gonna get his attention. And, and nothing came. So, I was just going after everything, anything, from outdoor companies, outdoor clothing-

Joe Rogan 23:37 And this is already after you'd already quit your job?

Nims Purja 23:39 I have already quit. So, I have already made the decision. And that's why it was so stressful, because now all my family are suffering because of my decision. My poor wife (laughs) , she was like, you know... And my, for the first time, you know, like, I had to suffer through this kind of, you know, like this stress. Look, mate, you know, I have, I have done HR, I have been deployed all over the world, I have operated in very, like, that-... that- that is split second kind of, you know, like, environment where your decision has to be like bombers and, and that doesn't stress me out. But here, it was mental. Man, my eyes-

Joe Rogan 24:17 How were you making a living?

Nims Purja 24:18 ... it was like that. Uh-

Joe Rogan 24:19 How were you making money?

Nims Purja 24:20 So at this point, we di- we didn't had money. So-

Joe Rogan 24:22 You had no money?

Nims Purja 24:23 So we-

Joe Rogan 24:23 So how were you eating? How were you paying your rent?

Nims Purja 24:26 So whatever we had, a bit of saving and all that, it was there. Um-

Joe Rogan 24:30 So you were burning through your savings-

Nims Purja 24:32 Yeah, yeah.

Joe Rogan 24:32 ... while trying to achieve this goal?

Nims Purja 24:34 Yeah, yeah.

Joe Rogan 24:35 And so what was the first thing that hit that let you know that this is possible? What-

Nims Purja 24:40 Because I, I believed in it.

Joe Rogan 24:42 No, no, no, that's not what I mean. What was the first thing where, where someone said yes? Where someone said, "I'll give you money."?

Nims Purja 24:49 No, so what happened was the, the funding was really, really struggling and what I did was, you know what? People don't believe it because, of course, in their eyes, you know, like what even Red Bull says is like swimming to the moon. You know? So even when-

Joe Rogan 25:05 Mm-hmm.

Nims Purja 25:05 ... they say things like that, so of course, you know, people were like, "Oh, it's, it's too much tough." Then what I did was I remortgaged my house and put every money I can put into this project, and that was like only like less than, I would say, 7% of the whole funding. (laughs)

Joe Rogan 25:22 And this is before anybody's contributed?

Nims Purja 25:24 Yeah, yeah.

Joe Rogan 25:25 You know, so you have no investors?

Nims Purja 25:27 Nothing.

Joe Rogan 25:28 You don't even have Netflix?

Nims Purja 25:30 F- forget Netflix, and I'll come into that story later on, brother.

Joe Rogan 25:33 Okay.

Nims Purja 25:33 So at this point, and eventually I started doing Go Funding. I had like no social media. So in March 2019 when I resigned from the Special Forces, I had no idea but I didn't even have Facebook, Instagram, anything.

Joe Rogan 25:49 Nothing?

Nims Purja 25:49 Nothing. So I had to learn how to do this all this hashtag and everything. My- it would- it would drive me nuts.

Joe Rogan 25:56 Uh, do you do all your social media?

Nims Purja 25:58 Now, still yes.

Joe Rogan 25:59 So you reached out to me from-

Nims Purja 26:01 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 26:01 ... social media, that's actually you?

Nims Purja 26:03 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 26:03 Okay. 'Cause I never know.

Nims Purja 26:04 (laughs) No, s-

Joe Rogan 26:04 I'm like, this might be some-

Nims Purja 26:05 That was- that was me. Yeah.

Joe Rogan 26:06 (laughs)

Nims Purja 26:06 So- so-

Joe Rogan 26:07 I never know-

Nims Purja 26:07 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 26:07 ... 'cause I-

Nims Purja 26:08 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 26:08 I- I think it might be some assistant somewhere-

Nims Purja 26:11 Some PR team. No.

Joe Rogan 26:12 ... or PR team, yeah.

Nims Purja 26:12 I- I have a team now but I still- I still, you know, do my thing because then it's-

Joe Rogan 26:17 Good for you.

Nims Purja 26:17 ... it's- it's authentic, right?

Joe Rogan 26:18 I do too. I do-

Nims Purja 26:19 It's- it's me.

Joe Rogan 26:19 ... I do my thing too.

Nims Purja 26:20 Wow.

Joe Rogan 26:20 Yeah.

Nims Purja 26:21 Wow. So going back into that one, Joe, what I really believed in was, "Okay, people doesn't believe now but if I start climbing this mountain in the manner and in the style that I said I would do it, it's gonna be possible." So I took the flight to Nepal with 15% of the funding. Then there were a bit of like in small like, you know, um, I would say sponsorship came in, a few money from GoFundMe, and at that point when I fly to Nepal, I had 15% of the total funding. So the first mountain I choose was Annapurna. So in Annapurna is like where every four climbers who try to climb, three dies trying. So that was my first mountain. And you know what? This was the first time ever in the history of my life-

Joe Rogan 27:06 Hold on. You said every four climbers, three die?

Nims Purja 27:10 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 27:10 Isn't it every four climbers, one die?

Nims Purja 27:13 No, that's not on Annapurna. This is- it's- that's, uh-

Joe Rogan 27:15 Really?

Nims Purja 27:16 ... that's on K2. This is Annapurna. Every four.

Joe Rogan 27:17 That's K2?

Nims Purja 27:18 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 27:18 So most people die?

Nims Purja 27:21 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 27:21 Jesus.

Nims Purja 27:22 So this is like-

Joe Rogan 27:23 So that's your first one?

Nims Purja 27:24 First one and this mountain-

Joe Rogan 27:25 So I guess if you were gonna die, you're gonna die quick.

Nims Purja 27:28 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 27:28 Let's- let's get it over with.

Nims Purja 27:30 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 27:30 (laughs) That's so nuts.

Nims Purja 27:31 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 27:31 What- now what are they dying from? Are they dying from-

Nims Purja 27:34 From avalanches. It's the mountain where you see-

Joe Rogan 27:37 Oh, Jesus.

Nims Purja 27:37 ... like, you know, like avalanches crumbling every like, you know, every minute.

Joe Rogan 27:41 That is so crazy. Every four climbers, three die?

Nims Purja 27:44 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 27:45 That sounds so insane.

Nims Purja 27:47 (laughs) Mate, that's- that's crazy-

Joe Rogan 27:50 (coughs) .

Nims Purja 27:50 ... that mountain. And, uh-

Joe Rogan 27:52 Jamie's looking it up right now.

Nims Purja 27:53 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 27:53 He's freaking out too.

Nims Purja 27:54 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 27:55 No one's quicker at looking shit up than Jamie, by the way.

Nims Purja 27:57 Yeah, yeah. And you know what? This mountain, you know, the- the big thing what I was trying to say, Joe, was-

Joe Rogan 28:02 (coughs) How do you spell that mountain?

Nims Purja 28:03 It's Annapurna.

Joe Rogan 28:05 Annapurna.

Nims Purja 28:06 Annapurna. Yes. Uh-

Joe Rogan 28:08 So how many people have climbed it, all told?

Nims Purja 28:11 I'm not gonna lie, I have no clue.

Joe Rogan 28:13 Here it goes. 32%. There have been fewer than 200 summits of the mountain and 61 people have lost their lives. So it's not quite that much.

Nims Purja 28:22 No, you know what? Because-

Joe Rogan 28:24 (coughs)

Nims Purja 28:24 ... I changed that statistics in 2019. When I went there and set the fix lines with my team, more than I think 50 people summited in 2019.

Joe Rogan 28:34 Right, but here's the stat. Every three people who reach the top, one person dies. So you got it reversed. That makes more sense.

Nims Purja 28:42 Okay.

Joe Rogan 28:42 It's close enough.

Nims Purja 28:43 I think- I think that's-

Joe Rogan 28:44 It's still-

Nims Purja 28:44 ... but you know what? In last-

Joe Rogan 28:45 Still very, very dangerous.

Nims Purja 28:46 In last two-

Joe Rogan 28:46 It's not like it's less impressive.

Nims Purja 28:48 Okay, you know what, Joe? I'm not gonna argue on that. But in last two years-

Joe Rogan 28:50 It's fucking Jamie. He's a wizard-

Narrator 28:51 I'm sorry, I just-

Joe Rogan 28:51 ... I'm telling you.

Nims Purja 28:52 In- in- in last two years, um, I think there are around 80 summits.

Joe Rogan 28:57 I'm- I can't believe there's one.

Nims Purja 28:58 Uh, before ... but anyway.

Joe Rogan 28:59 What the fuck is wrong with these people?

Nims Purja 29:00 (laughs)

Narrator 29:00 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 29:00 Stay home. (laughs) So that- that- it- that is insane though that that many people die.

Nims Purja 29:07 Yeah, yeah. And, you know, Annapurna is- is ... And you know what? This was probably the first time in my history where I was out of my shape because every energy I had was on the computers writing email and I was-

Joe Rogan 29:20 Oh, you're out of shape.

Nims Purja 29:21 As you- as you see on the movie, um, I was 10 kg heavier. I hadn't trained at all.

Joe Rogan 29:25 Mm-hmm.

Nims Purja 29:26 And I was like, "You know what?"

Joe Rogan 29:27 But you have an insane cardio. That's one of the things from the movie that was so evident. You have very, very unusual cardio. Um, do you think that some of that is, uh, uh, uh, you're just gifted? Or do you think it- that's from-

Nims Purja 29:43 I think-

Joe Rogan 29:43 ... the training that you had when you were a young boy? Do you think you just like made yourself have insane cardio from those runs you did when you were 16 years old? Because when they were doing that VO2 max test on you-

Nims Purja 29:53 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 29:53 ... that's insane, man. I mean-

Nims Purja 29:55 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 29:55 ... your- your cardio is like elite of the elite.

Nims Purja 29:58 Yeah. I think it's- it's that muscle memory, you know, where I have been- I have been training, you know, since I was kid and then-

Joe Rogan 30:06 Yeah.

Nims Purja 30:06 ... you know, like nonstop. And obviously which, you know, we discussed earlier. I think that's what-... what it- it made me who I am today, um, you know, the hard work, the- the training and training and training. Um, but Joe, you know, like, a lot of people think probably, you know, like, "Oh, yeah. Nims is from Nepal. He's from the mountains and- and he climb all these peak." You know, I grew up in the most flat-

Joe Rogan 30:29 (laughs)

Nims Purja 30:29 ... and the hottest part of Nepal.

Joe Rogan 30:31 How flat is it? What's the altitude there?

Nims Purja 30:32 Mate, it's- it's, like, almost, like, you know, sea level. And it is, like, probably-

Joe Rogan 30:35 It's sea level?

Nims Purja 30:35 ... 40, 45 degrees hot.

Joe Rogan 30:37 Oh.

Nims Purja 30:38 Celsius.

Joe Rogan 30:38 Oh, that's very hot.

Nims Purja 30:40 That's very hot, mate. Even the flies would die on the road.

Joe Rogan 30:42 Yeah. What is 45 degrees Celsius?

Nims Purja 30:44 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 30:44 That's like 100 in-

Nims Purja 30:45 Google it, buddy. (laughs)

Joe Rogan 30:46 I wanna say that's, like, 110. Is it higher? Yeah, 113. 113? Oh, my God.

Nims Purja 30:52 It's crazy, mate. And it's that hot, sometimes, you know, those are- those leaves-

Joe Rogan 30:55 And it's like sea level. Do- do-

Nims Purja 30:58 ... ...

Joe Rogan 30:58 One of the things they were saying about the sherpas is that they're so adapted to that- that area that they're-

Nims Purja 31:05 Environment, yeah.

Joe Rogan 31:05 Yeah, the-

Nims Purja 31:06 The altitude.

Joe Rogan 31:06 It's literally changed their genetics. There's this, um... They did-

Nims Purja 31:11 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 31:11 ... this study on some of the sherpas that assist the people on Mount Everest, in particular.

Nims Purja 31:15 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 31:15 And they said that- that they're so extraordinary that, um, they were studying them, they were saying it's literally had an effect on their DNA.

Nims Purja 31:24 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 31:24 Like, li- living there and- and doing that, and that this expression of being in that place, being in that environment-

Nims Purja 31:31 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 31:31 ... has just made them just i- incredible specimens.

Nims Purja 31:35 Yeah. I think that's, you know... Yeah, that makes sense because-

Joe Rogan 31:38 Yeah.

Nims Purja 31:39 ... it's like you- you adapting, right?

Joe Rogan 31:40 Yes.

Nims Purja 31:40 The human beings, you know, we- we have been able to survive since in our existence and-

Joe Rogan 31:45 It's pretty incredible to really think about.

Nims Purja 31:47 ... and the dinosaurs haven't done because they can adapt, and if you live on that altitude, yes, that's correct.

Joe Rogan 31:51 I think the dinosaurs probably were adapting-

Nims Purja 31:53 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 31:53 ... but a lot of other shit went down. I don't think it's like the dinosaurs were lazy. They didn't-

Nims Purja 31:57 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 31:57 ... train hard enough. (laughs)

Nims Purja 32:00 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 32:00 I think there was, like, a big rock that had something to do with that, but-

Nims Purja 32:03 (sighs)

Joe Rogan 32:03 But it's still extraordinary that, you know, like, there was this thing about these, uh, sherpas where they were able to do things with no oxygen.

Nims Purja 32:11 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 32:11 That, where the people that had tried to go there... That's like, there's so much recreational climbing, particularly in Everest.

Nims Purja 32:18 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 32:18 And you documented that in that crazy photo.

Nims Purja 32:20 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 32:20 We actually showed that photo the other day on the podcast.

Nims Purja 32:23 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 32:23 Where it shows you in this insane line of people-

Nims Purja 32:27 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 32:27 ... trying to get to the top. It seems like that had to be the weirdest of the climbs. Was that the weirdest one?

Nims Purja 32:33 Mm... Can I- can I tell you something, Joe? I think I did even, like, send you a message in anger, like, "Joe, you have posted my picture without credits."

Joe Rogan 32:40 (laughs)

Nims Purja 32:40 That was long time ago. And you were like, "Sorry, bro, it was from New York." And I was like, "Yeah, but you know?" So-

Joe Rogan 32:46 It was from The New York Times.

Nims Purja 32:47 Yeah, yeah.

Joe Rogan 32:48 Yeah.

Nims Purja 32:48 New York Times. And you know what?

Joe Rogan 32:49 So there's one credit. Or there's one photo-

Nims Purja 32:52 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 32:53 ... rather.

Nims Purja 32:53 That's-

Joe Rogan 32:53 Like, that is crazy-

Nims Purja 32:54 So-

Joe Rogan 32:54 ... that they do it that way. Like, how many people is that? It looks like 100 people.

Nims Purja 32:57 Yeah, so the one that I took is-

Joe Rogan 32:59 Look at that one right there.

Nims Purja 32:59 ... is the other one on the right, yeah.

Joe Rogan 33:01 Yeah, that's the one that we showed. But that picture-

Nims Purja 33:03 Yes, like that one.

Joe Rogan 33:03 ... how many f- how many humans is that?

Nims Purja 33:05 So I think probably around, I would say, 100 plus. 100-

Joe Rogan 33:08 So if one of those guys falls, does everybody go like a pile of dominoes?

Nims Purja 33:13 Well, if-

Joe Rogan 33:14 That's not good, right?

Nims Purja 33:15 Well, the thing is nobody gonna fall.

Joe Rogan 33:17 Nobody?

Nims Purja 33:18 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 33:18 Listen, people fall.

Nims Purja 33:19 Joe, Joe, can- can I- can I put things into this, um, things into perspective?

Joe Rogan 33:23 Please do.

Nims Purja 33:23 And I think it's my chance to correct the story.

Joe Rogan 33:26 Okay.

Nims Purja 33:27 So, you know, when that picture came out, I heard a lot of negativity around the world. And you know what? The human beings, we are so, so negative. And I think even in the workplace nowadays, specifically because of that picture, if some of the work colleagues summit Everest, we'll say, "Oh, now you know what Everest is like," and every tourist go and summit. But let me give you this example, everyone who's listening to this, um, you know, podcast. There are more than 2,000 people running London Marathon, but just because that number is high, will that marathon be easy? No. So, it's still is Everest, it's still tough. Now, moving into this specific story, what happened was, 2019, it was unfortunately only one day where we had the good weather.

Joe Rogan 34:22 So there was a window of opportunity-

Nims Purja 34:24 Yes.

Joe Rogan 34:24 ... that everybody had to capitalize on.

Nims Purja 34:25 Everybody had to go and- and look, you know, imagine-

Joe Rogan 34:28 So that's unusual is what you're saying.

Nims Purja 34:29 That's very unusual. So imagine, like, if you're on- on Everest base camp and you're staying at, you know, 5,400 me- meters altitude for two months and- and you have to train to be able to be... to go and summit, as in, like, the- the acclimatization. So you have to go to Camp One, you sleep, you have to go to Camp Two, you sleep, towards Camp Three, get back down, and- and that takes five weeks.

Joe Rogan 34:52 Yeah.

Nims Purja 34:52 And then now you wait for the summit weather window. And if there's, like, one summit opportunity, ladies and gentlemen, look, not every people who go on Everest are rich, you know. People sometimes, you know, put whole of their saving into- into Everest because it's a- it's a very expensive, you know, expedition. People take loan, like what I did in 2016. So, people want to g- gra- you know, get that opportunity. And that's why it was particular in 2019 that happened. But nobody really died of that, but obviously the big newspaper wanted to sell their headline, so they were saying, "Oh, oh, this and that." Um...

Joe Rogan 35:27 All this and that. But that photo is crazy.

Nims Purja 35:30 It is. I-

Joe Rogan 35:30 I mean, if- if you're-

Nims Purja 35:31 ... asked about it. (laughs)

Joe Rogan 35:31 ... just a person looking at that ph- I know you took it. We talked about it.

Nims Purja 35:34 Yeah. (laughs)

Joe Rogan 35:35 (laughs)

Nims Purja 35:35 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 35:36 But if you look at that photo-

Nims Purja 35:38 Oh, Joe. (laughs)

Joe Rogan 35:38 ... I mean, that is an insane image.

Nims Purja 35:40 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 35:40 There it is, New York Times, uh, 2019, May. So when- when you were there and you took that photo, you had to know that that's incredibly unusual, right? So what was the negativity? People were saying that too many people are going to Everest.

Nims Purja 35:53 Too many people on Everest and, you know, like, all of this stuff.

Joe Rogan 35:55 But that's been... That- that criticism has existed for years, because... particularly because of the human feces that's left up there.

Nims Purja 36:02 Yes.

Joe Rogan 36:02 Right? Yeah. There's a lot of human waste-

Nims Purja 36:05 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 36:05 ... that's left up on the mountain.

Nims Purja 36:07 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 36:08 Along with bodies, right? They leave the bodies up there, which is kinda crazy.

Nims Purja 36:11 Yeah. So-

Joe Rogan 36:12 I heard a bit about that back in the day.

Nims Purja 36:14 (laughs) To that note, to that note though, um, I have announced The Big Mountain Cleanup Project. Um, so we cleaned Manaslu, uh, last year in September. It's a 1,000-meter peak. This year, we gonna go and clean all the rubbish from Camp IV, which is at the death zone. It's at 8,000 meters-

Joe Rogan 36:30 Hmm.

Nims Purja 36:30 ... so there are loads of rubbish. Um-

Joe Rogan 36:31 So you're gonna go to clean the rubbish at the death zone?

Nims Purja 36:34 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 36:34 How much time can you spend at the death zone before you, you know, die?

Nims Purja 36:38 For me, I can, I can live there too.

Joe Rogan 36:40 You can live there?

Nims Purja 36:41 Yeah. It's Nims die. (laughs)

Joe Rogan 36:43 (laughs)

Nims Purja 36:44 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 36:44 So most people-

Nims Purja 36:45 Yeah, yeah.

Joe Rogan 36:45 ... forget about you superman, but most people, how much time can they spend at the dead zone?

Nims Purja 36:50 So it all depends. Um, sometime, you know, people, people literally die because if they haven't acclimatized properly, but you can't really live there though, you know?

Joe Rogan 36:59 Right.

Nims Purja 37:00 You, you, you are literally dying and it's... You have to see, like for example, the death zone, how I can, I can explain to everybody is like, it's like you're drowning in the sea.

Joe Rogan 37:10 Mm-hmm.

Nims Purja 37:11 Like-

Joe Rogan 37:11 Right.

Nims Purja 37:11 ... everybody is in, in survival situation.

Joe Rogan 37:13 Right.

Nims Purja 37:14 But some of us who can, who can outperform that, you know-

Joe Rogan 37:17 Who can swim longer.

Nims Purja 37:18 ... we can, we can see like, you know, like I can... As soon as I get there, I can say, "Okay, he's, he's in his like, you know, in his limit."

Joe Rogan 37:24 Mm-hmm.

Nims Purja 37:24 He's in his limit, that people... So I can see from that big overarching umbrella point of view. And, uh, yeah, because it's, it's the element, it's like really thin air, um-

Joe Rogan 37:35 Well, you talked about it in the, in the film where you got, uh... There's cerebral edema from being at altitude.

Nims Purja 37:42 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 37:43 And you were, uh, you were having hallucinations-

Nims Purja 37:46 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 37:47 ... and that... So that's what starts the... Is that what starts the, the process of people dying? Is that like the beginning stages of it?

Nims Purja 37:54 Yes. So I think that's a bit later stage. So how it happens is, so the one that you talk about is we call it HACE, that's high altitude cerebral edema.

Joe Rogan 38:03 Yes.

Nims Purja 38:04 So that means, you know, you develop a fluid in your brain, um, and then after that, you know, of course, you know, the brain doesn't work properly. So-

Joe Rogan 38:11 How long does it take for you to recover from that?

Nims Purja 38:14 You have to go down as quickly as possible. The faster-

Joe Rogan 38:17 While you're still alive?

Nims Purja 38:18 ... you get down, yeah.

Joe Rogan 38:18 Right.

Nims Purja 38:19 The faster you go down, there's more chances of survival, and the only cure for that is to go down.

Joe Rogan 38:26 Hmm.

Nims Purja 38:26 Yes.

Joe Rogan 38:27 And so is it just a, a f- a factor of how much time you spent at that high altitude? Is that what gave you HACE?

Nims Purja 38:34 Yes. And then, and, and-

Joe Rogan 38:35 So you were just up there too long?

Nims Purja 38:36 ... for my story, for my story, it was different because on Annapurna, we had summited, we got back down, and we're supposed to go and climb Dhaulagiri, so the second mountain on my list. The weather was perfect, I was meant to go there, but then I called this, this message saying, "Hey, Nims, Dr. Qin is alive above Camp IV." So I was-

Joe Rogan 39:00 S- Say that again.

Nims Purja 39:00 So Dr. Qin, he was, he was, he was, you know-

Joe Rogan 39:02 There was a guy that was stuck up there.

Nims Purja 39:03 There was a guy who was stuck up.

Joe Rogan 39:05 Right, right, and that's in the film.

Nims Purja 39:06 That's in the film.

Joe Rogan 39:07 Yeah.

Nims Purja 39:08 So, look, I have never left anyone behind in, in my career in the Special Forces and in the Gurkhas, and I know for this project I had, I had put everything down on the line, but I knew that, you know, I was in my ability to go and save him. So I put... again, I, I put whole of my mission into risks again. So me and my team went, we, we rescued him, and we took him to the hospital. But because of that, we missed the good weather in Dhaulagiri. So normally, I climb one 8,000-meter peak in 18 hours. Dhaulagiri, it took us five days, non-stop. There's... We didn't sleep at all. We're like keep pushing and then you can see on the, on, on the film as well. The weather was terrible. And, uh, and after the summit of Dhaulagiri, we got back to Kathmandu, and there was one Chinese, like, billionaire who said, "Nims, I might go and climb Kangchenjunga," which is my third mountain. So he was like, "Would you guide me?" And I was like, "Okay," because we didn't have the money, so-

Joe Rogan 40:05 Can I stop you? Because we're going too far. I want to go back to HACE. Just, just-

Nims Purja 40:09 Yeah, so I'm gonna tell you this.

Joe Rogan 40:10 Okay, okay.

Nims Purja 40:10 So, so he said like, "Okay, can I... Can you guide me?" And I was like, "Okay." So we didn't have the money, so I said, "Okay, I, I can guide you." So, you know, obviously my, all my Chinese friend, they started bringing this, you know, drinks and we, we partied till 6:00. Now day five plus I haven't slept. At 6:00, he bailed out. So then I'm going into this Kangchenjunga, the ho-

Joe Rogan 40:30 So he decided not to climb?

Nims Purja 40:31 Not to go. So I had to go anyway, so I-

Joe Rogan 40:34 So he was drinking with you?

Nims Purja 40:36 Yeah, yeah. He was drinking. And so, you know, fully hungover, I went to, to the airport and I had to go to Kangchenjunga. And we climbed Kangchenjunga, that was probably one of the, was one of the craziest, you know. It was so cold, like so sleepy, we used to put snow in our armpit, you know, slap ourself, all that. So to get into your point, so I haven't slept for six days. Summited, got back down, and at 8,450 meters, we found a climber. He was out of his oxygen. So I got my oxygen out and I give him immediately the oxygen. So I'm now out of oxygen, okay? So just to put into, into the signs here, normally you climb without oxygen when you are acclimatized. I was never acclimatized to that altitude. So let's say on Everest or even in K2, you have to sleep at Camp IV without oxygen so that your body is acclimatized, you are building more red blood cells.

Joe Rogan 41:33 Right.

Nims Purja 41:33 I didn't ha- done that. So giving my oxygen, I knew that I could do it, but I knew it was a very, very high risk. So I gave him my oxygen and we started bringing him down. Then another 100 meter down, we found another guy.

Joe Rogan 41:45 Oh, Jesus.

Nims Purja 41:46 So we started bringing these two people down. And then there were people at Camp IV, more than I think 60 people at Camp IV, who, who went to like summit push, like going from Camp I, they sleep, Camp II, they sleep, Camp III, they sleep, Camp IV, they sleep. Summit and then back to Camp IV. And then they were not in the situation like us at all, you know. Our, our, our story is completely different. It's like fast track. We haven't slept for six days and all that. So I w- I went on to the radio and I, I begged for help. Is there any chance can somebody bring us the oxygen?... and nobody came, man. And, and it came to, uh, that point where people started turning their radio off. And-

Joe Rogan 42:25 They just let you die up there?

Nims Purja 42:27 Yeah. And then-

Joe Rogan 42:28 They... Is that... Just because it's so dangerous-

Nims Purja 42:30 (coughs) Yeah. And-

Joe Rogan 42:30 ... that they weren't willing to risk their lives?

Nims Purja 42:32 Yeah. Yeah. So, a- and I could get it. Look, I, I'm not here to blame anybody, but, you know, um, a lot of people say, you know, like, yeah, they're badass and all that. They can talk in the social media, but they all were at camp for... You know, they were earlier, they were well-rested and, and they could come and help in, in, in another sense, but nobody-

Joe Rogan 42:50 How far was the trek to get to you?

Nims Purja 42:52 So, to come up with oxygen, um, I would say three hours.

Joe Rogan 42:58 That's it?

Nims Purja 42:59 Three hours. With oxygen. Yes.

Joe Rogan 43:00 And they wouldn't do it?

Nims Purja 43:01 Nobody would come and, mate, it was crazy.

Joe Rogan 43:02 Did you talk to them when you came down?

Nims Purja 43:04 Oh, mate, w- nah. You know, and it's-

Joe Rogan 43:06 Fuck you, right?

Nims Purja 43:07 Yeah. It was mental. So at that point what happened was one of my, my brother, uh, Gesma Tamang, uh, team member, Sherpa, he started getting frostbite.

Joe Rogan 43:18 Oh, shit.

Nims Purja 43:18 So I had to send him down. So now it's me and Migma David.

Joe Rogan 43:21 How do you tell when someone's getting frostbite?

Nims Purja 43:23 Mate, it's so cold that, you know, you can't even, like, feel your toes. Right? So I had to send him down because otherwise I was gonna have more casualty. Then-

Joe Rogan 43:31 Right.

Nims Purja 43:31 ... Migma David, who is my right-hand man, he's like, "Nims, brother, you know, I think I'm having haze as well. I cannot even, like, think properly." And I was like, "Fuck." So I sent him back down. So now it's me and then these two guys. So we're, like, bringing him down and then literally-

Joe Rogan 43:47 Are they, are these two guys mobile? Can they walk?

Nims Purja 43:50 No, we're dragging them, brother.

Joe Rogan 43:52 Ugh.

Nims Purja 43:52 So one of the guy, before I sent Migma, he died in our arms. The oxygen finished, literally 15 minutes later he died. And that was terrible because we put so much energy and risk our life to bring him down and, and he passed away. And-

Joe Rogan 44:07 He passed away and then here's you-

Nims Purja 44:08 In my arms. Yeah.

Joe Rogan 44:09 ... no oxygen.

Nims Purja 44:10 No oxygen for, like, almost now 11 hours.

Joe Rogan 44:13 Oh, Jesus.

Nims Purja 44:13 And then, and then now I got this guy, and this is when, you know, like, I started seeing things like, you know, like, you know, in, in the book Beyond Possible-

Joe Rogan 44:24 Mm-hmm.

Nims Purja 44:24 ... I mentioned like, you know, I thought it was a yeti.

Joe Rogan 44:27 Yeah.

Nims Purja 44:27 So I was really scared. So I was doing that like, you know, still, still trying to function. "Come on, Nims." You know? So I was looking for my e- even exit route, how can I, I run away if he comes and attack-

Joe Rogan 44:36 Yeah.

Nims Purja 44:36 ... and all that. So that's like, you know-

Joe Rogan 44:38 So you really thought it was a yeti?

Nims Purja 44:40 Yeah. Yeah. I was very scared. I was like, you know, I have m-

Joe Rogan 44:43 Did you s- What did you see when you were hallucinating?

Nims Purja 44:46 Mate, it was like a big, you know, like...

Joe Rogan 44:48 Giant hairy thing?

Nims Purja 44:49 ... giant, like, thing, you know, like, what you imagine, right? You know-

Joe Rogan 44:52 Do you think that that's what the yeti is, that p- it's people with high altitude sickness and they see these things?

Nims Purja 44:57 (laughs) I, I, I really don't know. (laughs) I can't comment for others, but-

Joe Rogan 45:00 But doesn't that make sense? 'Cause you saw it and you had high altitude sickness.

Nims Purja 45:04 Yeah. Yeah. So that was crazy, man. And, uh, yeah, eventually, now getting into your question, did I speak to anybody? No. I had enough with those people.

Joe Rogan 45:13 Right.

Nims Purja 45:14 I got to base camp. Uh, out of four people we helped, two s- two survived on that day. And I went to Everest to-

Joe Rogan 45:21 So two survived and two died?

Nims Purja 45:22 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 45:23 Wow.

Nims Purja 45:25 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 45:25 Jesus. So y- but you're still determined to do this?

Nims Purja 45:29 Yeah. And then, yeah, I went to Everest and then-

Joe Rogan 45:32 Did you ever think of doing it with, like, less people so that you don't have to be involved with other people that could trip you up like that?

Nims Purja 45:39 But you can't stop people going on the mountain, right? It's the nature.

Joe Rogan 45:42 So there's no... Right. There's no time where you could just-

Nims Purja 45:43 No timing, nothing and all that. You know, you just, you just deal with how it comes.

Joe Rogan 45:47 Right.

Nims Purja 45:47 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 45:48 And there's always people trying to summit.

Nims Purja 45:50 Always. Always.

Joe Rogan 45:50 Yeah. All day long, right?

Nims Purja 45:52 All day.

Joe Rogan 45:52 Every, every day of the year.

Nims Purja 45:53 Every season. Every season. So-

Joe Rogan 45:55 Mm-hmm.

Nims Purja 45:55 ... people climb Everest, uh, in spring season because that's where the weather is really good. Then they climb K2 in summer. That's when the wea- weather in Pakistan is good. And, and there's, like, a season, you know, where the weather is good and there's always, like, people climbing.

Joe Rogan 46:08 Do people try to climb it out of season?

Nims Purja 46:10 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 46:11 They climb it when the weather's bad?

Nims Purja 46:13 C- yeah.

Joe Rogan 46:13 'Cause it's a cheaper vacation? (laughs)

Nims Purja 46:15 It's, it's a bit more cheaper. (laughs) Yeah. You, you, you nailed it there, man.

Joe Rogan 46:21 So, at this point, when you first started doing this, when you first, uh, you climbed the first two peaks, did you have funding by then? Did you know-

Nims Purja 46:30 No.

Joe Rogan 46:30 You didn't?

Nims Purja 46:31 So, every time, you know, I go to one peak, we summit, and then there's a GoFundMe page and then people are sharing and, um, you know, a good friend of mine, you, you know, who was in s- like, who, who was in the program called SES Who Dares Win, he started posting and supporting. And then people giving 20 pounds, 30 pounds, and eventually, as soon as I climb one mountain, there will be money for, to, to climb the second mountain. So-

Joe Rogan 46:53 Right.

Nims Purja 46:54 Look, the, the whole thing here was I wasn't only climbing this mountain, but I was managing my social media. I was doing the fundraising. I was, I was managing the team dynamics. I was doing the logistics. So as soon as I'm on this one, I w- I have to think about what's happening on the other mountain. And the big thing here is the filming of the project, which I'll come into a bit later. Um-

Joe Rogan 47:18 The what of the project?

Nims Purja 47:19 The, the f- filming.

Joe Rogan 47:20 Fil- filming. Filming. Okay.

Nims Purja 47:21 Yeah. Thank you. You know-

Joe Rogan 47:22 Sorry.

Nims Purja 47:22 ... with a thick accent, um...

Joe Rogan 47:23 I thought you said flaming.

Nims Purja 47:24 So, so, Joe, you know, look, when I was a kid we didn't even have a TV in the house. Um, as a kid I used to go around, uh, to neighbors' house to, to watch the television and they would say, "Hey, get lost." But from that point today I produced the biggest mountaineering film ever in the history. So what I'm doing right now is not only about climbing. Climbing is the easiest thing I have done. So the whole of the 14 peaks, it was my vision, it was my idea. We didn't even have the production crew. I was climbing and, and flying the drone at the same point. I was making sure that the teams were in the right place to capture the content. All of this. So again, you know, brother, nothing is impossible. So that's the thing. And the question that you asked me before, when did Netflix come in? So when I finished the whole of the project, I had about more than 100 hours of, like, you know, footage in a hard drive-Before- before I went to Nepal at the start of the project, I had pitched this to everybody. "Can you film this?" Nobody. So when I come with the hard drive, may- I was in- in- in different part of the- of the table (laughs) and we did a big, uh, I would say, um, kind of in like auction. Who would come and- and make this, you know, produce this movie? Out of, you know, four or five people, um, I decided to go with Noah 'cause I felt like they were the right partners, and then, um, Noah put this together. Um, we had amazing director in Torquil Jones. You know, I think... and it's also his baby. Um, looking through 100 hours of footage and- and then stitching them. Then Jimmy Chin, um, you know, from Free Solo, he came in. So does his wife, you know, Tsahi. And then- and then we sold it to Netflix.

Joe Rogan 49:10 So Jimmy, is his name Jimmy Chin?

Nims Purja 49:12 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 49:12 He was the guy... Did he f- produce Free Solo?

Nims Purja 49:14 He was EP.

Joe Rogan 49:16 Oh, wow.

Nims Purja 49:16 Yeah, he was EP on that, on that film.

Joe Rogan 49:17 That movie's incredible too.

Nims Purja 49:18 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 49:18 Yeah, that movie's great.

Nims Purja 49:19 So they all came in, like, later on.

Joe Rogan 49:21 Oh, I see.

Nims Purja 49:22 And then-

Joe Rogan 49:22 So this was after the footage had already been shot?

Nims Purja 49:25 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 49:25 Right.

Nims Purja 49:26 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 49:26 So this is after you had completed all the peaks?

Nims Purja 49:28 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 49:29 So what did- were you- you just had someone film it and you figured, "We'll just edit this later"?

Nims Purja 49:33 Not someone, brother. We- we film by ourself.

Joe Rogan 49:36 Yes.

Nims Purja 49:36 You know, myself, my team, and- and... Because I knew that this thing has got multi-layers of motivating factors. A lot of people who wanna go into the filming industry and all said, "Okay, because I didn't have this camera, I didn't have this-"

Joe Rogan 49:51 Right.

Nims Purja 49:51 "... I didn't have the, you know, like, n- you know-"

Joe Rogan 49:53 A crew, right.

Nims Purja 49:53 "... Discovery, Netflix, or crew signing this." Like, no, you know, you can make things happen. You just, like... So it was really hard work when you are climbing in this, like, vertical slope and you are flying the drone and, you know, like, climbing at the same point, but I knew that I had to do this.

Joe Rogan 50:09 Hmm.

Nims Purja 50:09 Even... Another tough thing was, like, you know, the- the- the shot with my mom when she was in hospital.

Joe Rogan 50:14 Mm-hmm.

Nims Purja 50:15 It was crazy because we were like saying, "Hey guys, we need to have the camera, okay?" 'Cause... But you don't feel natural because it's like acting, right?

Joe Rogan 50:24 Right.

Nims Purja 50:24 But it's not acting.

Joe Rogan 50:25 Right.

Nims Purja 50:25 I have never been that part, but I was like-

Joe Rogan 50:27 Yeah.

Nims Purja 50:27 ... "Oh, it was so awkward," but I had to do it, so I said, "You know, guys, let's get the camera out. Whatever it happens, let's f- let's shoot it."

Joe Rogan 50:35 Yeah, that's a real problem with, like, anytime you're trying to document reality and you have a camera. The camera just naturally changes the way people behave-

Nims Purja 50:45 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 50:45 ... because they're aware that someone's watching.

Nims Purja 50:48 Yeah, and then, you know, for me, like, you know, we had that and there's no cut in all that. It's just, you just film the whole thing.

Joe Rogan 50:54 Yeah.

Nims Purja 50:55 Like how you are doing right now. It's natural-

Joe Rogan 50:56 Yeah.

Nims Purja 50:56 ... right? We are not doing the acting and all that so it's- it's natural, everything is all good.

Joe Rogan 51:00 But that's 'cause I do it every day. If I did it just once-

Nims Purja 51:03 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 51:04 ... I would be thinking, "How do I act natural?"

Nims Purja 51:08 Oh.

Joe Rogan 51:08 You know?

Nims Purja 51:08 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 51:09 When you get accustomed to it. So do you think you were accustomed to the filming after a while where you could just be yourself 'cause the cameras were on you so often?

Nims Purja 51:16 No, b- look, the- the big thing was I knew that this has to be documented, and I knew it has to have this-

Joe Rogan 51:22 Right.

Nims Purja 51:22 ... like authenticity and- and that's why, you know, like from- from speaking with the sponsors, putting GoPro over there-

Joe Rogan 51:29 Yeah.

Nims Purja 51:30 ... to like, you know, filming all my tour. And honestly, Joe, we haven't even used like most of the footage because it's very, like full on, 109 minutes of like punchy-

Joe Rogan 51:40 Mm-hmm.

Nims Purja 51:40 ... like in a movie, so-

Joe Rogan 51:41 I wonder if you could-

Nims Purja 51:42 ... there's so much. There's so much.

Joe Rogan 51:43 It seems like Netflix could make an accompaniment program where you could have a whole series.

Nims Purja 51:48 Oh, yeah, easily.

Joe Rogan 51:48 'Cause if you have hundreds of hours of footage, I think that would be really good to do.

Nims Purja 51:52 And they'd... We can go into in depth, the whole thing.

Joe Rogan 51:55 Yeah, they should do that. They should do that. I mean, you have the footage.

Nims Purja 51:58 Okay, Netflix, you are listening this.

Joe Rogan 51:59 Netflix.

Nims Purja 51:59 Make it happen (laughs) .

Joe Rogan 52:01 Holla at your boy. Holla at your boy, let's get it done.

Nims Purja 52:04 Ah, ah, ah.

Joe Rogan 52:04 It just seems like, you know, for a series, that's a no-brainer.

Nims Purja 52:08 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 52:08 You know, to- to do an in-depth look at each individual climb.

Nims Purja 52:12 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 52:12 You have 14 different mountains.

Nims Purja 52:14 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 52:15 Yeah, I mean, that totally makes sense.

Nims Purja 52:16 And also they did-

Joe Rogan 52:16 And they're always looking for content.

Nims Purja 52:17 Yeah, and also the part with- with the mom, you know?

Joe Rogan 52:20 Yes.

Nims Purja 52:20 You know, my mom is like, you know... She was everything for me. And you know what, Joe? The biggest thing was... Look, my mom got very ill and she was living in this like, you know, city, like, you know, room in Kathmandu. My dad was in- in Chitwan where I'm from, and they were like, you know... They were apart for almost two years. And I- I announced this project and I was like, "Oh my god," and then, "When can I put them together in the same roof?" And that was my- my mission.

Joe Rogan 52:48 Mm-hmm.

Nims Purja 52:48 So, uh, but I really truly believe that for this bigger purpose, bigger goal, we all had to sacrifice.

Joe Rogan 53:01 Hmm.

Nims Purja 53:01 You know, not only I sacrificed, my wife sacrificed and (clears throat) my brothers. Everybody went through it, but we are making the difference and-

Joe Rogan 53:10 Well, the film has been a huge success, right? I mean, so many people have seen it, you must have motivated countless amounts of people-

Nims Purja 53:17 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 53:17 ... to do things that they probably never thought they could do before.

Nims Purja 53:20 Yeah, you know what, Joe? We... Yeah, it was the most watched documentary, um, in Netflix. Uh, we are number seven, you know, competing with, you know, even Dwayne Johnson on that- on that week, so-

Joe Rogan 53:31 Competing with The Rock.

Nims Purja 53:32 Yeah, with The Rock (laughs) . Hey Rock, listen bro (laughs) .

Joe Rogan 53:34 Listen bro.

Nims Purja 53:35 Yeah, but yeah, it was- it was extremely, I would say, a bit of overwhelming to- to see the response because-

Joe Rogan 53:43 Yeah.

Nims Purja 53:43 ... you know, I get so many messages like, "You know what, Nims? I was about to take my life, but when I saw that, you know, movie I was like, 'Wow, my life is nothing in comparison to what this guy went.'" And- and it's changing a lot of people's, you know, way of thinking as well.

Joe Rogan 53:58 Yeah.

Nims Purja 53:59 So, you know, I'm- I'm happy. I'm happy, Joe.

Joe Rogan 54:01 That's beautiful. There is something about watching people accomplish amazing things that does change your perspective. It really does work. And- and, you know, there's a lot of motivational people online but they don't necessarily do much. The real motivation comes from watching people do the impossible like you.

Nims Purja 54:22 Thank you.

Joe Rogan 54:22 Or, you know, watching Alex Honnold and Free Solo-

Nims Purja 54:25 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 54:25 ... or watching David Goggins or-

Nims Purja 54:28 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 54:28 ... someone who's actually doing something-... is what really motivates people.

Nims Purja 54:32 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 54:33 Talk is great. It's, it's-

Nims Purja 54:35 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 54:35 ... it's exciting. Like, sometimes enthusiastic and energetic people can motivate people just by words.

Nims Purja 54:42 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 54:42 But the real motivation comes from watching other people do things and knowing that it's possible to push beyond the boundaries that you think exist because... David Goggins has a great quote. He says, "Most people quit at 40%."

Nims Purja 54:57 Yeah. Yeah.

Joe Rogan 54:58 You know, and I think he's right.

Nims Purja 54:59 Yeah, yeah. Did you see in my quote what I said?

Joe Rogan 55:02 What'd you say?

Nims Purja 55:03 It's all... It's completely made up. So it was on K2 when I was there. Um, and what I said was, "When you think you are fully fucked, you're only 45% fucked."

Joe Rogan 55:13 (laughs) That's great.

Nims Purja 55:15 So what happened?

Joe Rogan 55:16 That's perfect.

Nims Purja 55:16 You know what happened on that? Yeah.

Joe Rogan 55:17 That's right up there with, with Goggins said, but it's-

Nims Purja 55:19 (laughs) Yeah.

Joe Rogan 55:19 ... it's people like you and him that have done insane things-

Nims Purja 55:23 Oh, thank you, Joe.

Joe Rogan 55:23 ... that have that ability to express this because it's not just talk. You're at-

Nims Purja 55:29 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 55:29 You've actually done it. And that's, that's the difference between... I mean, I don't wanna call anybody out, but, you know, certain motivational speakers that-

Nims Purja 55:37 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 55:37 ... they give these big tours and they, they talk in front of large groups of people to, "You can accomplish your goals. You can follow your dreams." And... But what are they doing, right?

Nims Purja 55:46 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 55:46 It takes... It re-... For, for it to really resonate with a person, it takes someone like you that's actually done something spectacular.

Nims Purja 55:54 Yeah, man, that means a lot, you know, coming from you, Joe. Thank you.

Joe Rogan 55:57 When you... Uh, so, over the course of the many months that you did this film, when, when you were close, was, was there ever a moment where you had to realize, like, "We're th- we're almost there." Like, "We actually are doing this."

Nims Purja 56:12 (breathes deeply)

Joe Rogan 56:14 Because the... What you set out to do-

Nims Purja 56:16 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 56:16 ... if you, you brought that... I'm not in the climbing world.

Nims Purja 56:19 Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 56:19 But from what I've read, if you brought that idea to anybody, they'd tell you to go fuck yourself.

Nims Purja 56:24 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 56:24 They'd be like, "That is the craziest idea ever."

Nims Purja 56:27 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 56:27 "You're gonna do how many peaks?"

Nims Purja 56:28 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 56:28 "14." "In how long?" "Seven months?" "Do you know what you're saying?"

Nims Purja 56:32 (clears throat)

Joe Rogan 56:32 "You're saying you're gonna do one every two weeks."

Nims Purja 56:35 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 56:35 That's what you're saying.

Nims Purja 56:36 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 56:36 "That's so stupid." People would be like, "Get the fuck out of my office."

Nims Purja 56:40 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 56:40 "You can't do that." Like, you didn't even say, "I'll do it all in a year."

Nims Purja 56:44 No.

Joe Rogan 56:44 Which would be crazy. Or, "I'll do it all in two years." Still crazy. Three years. Fucking crazy. Like, what was the world record before that? 11 years?

Nims Purja 56:52 (laughs) No, uh, nearly eight years. Of, of, sort of it-

Joe Rogan 56:56 Eight years. Okay, sorry.

Nims Purja 56:57 ... yeah.

Joe Rogan 56:57 Eight years. So if you decide to do it in four-

Nims Purja 56:59 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 56:59 ... people would go, "Pretty impressive."

Nims Purja 57:01 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 57:01 You're like, "No, no, no. Seven months."

Nims Purja 57:04 And, and that was the, the missing statement. And, Joe, I think even if I had passed that by one day, I would have repeated.

Joe Rogan 57:10 (huffs)

Nims Purja 57:11 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 57:11 How did you get that number in your head? How did you get the seven months in your head?

Nims Purja 57:15 Look, I... When I did the full planning, I knew that this could be done in four months.

Joe Rogan 57:21 Four months?

Nims Purja 57:21 Yeah. But I knew that I had no money, you know, so d-

Joe Rogan 57:24 So if you had more money-

Nims Purja 57:26 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 57:26 ... you would have done it in four months?

Nims Purja 57:27 Maybe less than that.

Joe Rogan 57:28 Oh, Jesus Christ. (laughs)

Nims Purja 57:29 So, you know, it's like-

Joe Rogan 57:31 That's like (laughs) ... You do, like, one of those every couple of days?

Nims Purja 57:34 Yeah, yeah.

Joe Rogan 57:34 Like, that's so crazy.

Nims Purja 57:36 And, you know, like, uh, to, to answer your question, you know, I climbed Everest, Lhotse, Makalu, the world first, fourth, and fifth highest mountain in 48 hours.

Joe Rogan 57:46 (smacks lips) How many mountains did you climb in 48 hours?

Nims Purja 57:49 Everest, Lhotse, Makalu, the world first, fourth, and fifth highest mountain in 48 hours.

Joe Rogan 57:55 You, you climbed-

Nims Purja 57:55 All of them.

Joe Rogan 57:56 ... three peaks in 48 hours?

Nims Purja 57:58 Yeah. So, yes, I could have done that in, in less than four months.

Joe Rogan 58:03 Holy shit.

Nims Purja 58:04 But I knew that, you know, I had to put, you know, first factor into the planning. I know there was no funding. I know that there will be a big bureaucracy, the politics, all that-

Joe Rogan 58:12 Yeah.

Nims Purja 58:12 ... involve. And, and you see in the movie, you know, like, the whole thing what I had to do in order to get the permission from China was next level.

Joe Rogan 58:20 What are you eating when you're doing this?

Nims Purja 58:23 (clears throat) Mate, I just eat, like, Nepalese food, you know. It's rice, you know, vegetable and, and, and meat curry. And, and if I go up, what I do is, um, I just fry some chicken and have my, you know, like, you know, fried egg rice. I carry... It's a bit heavy, but I carry up and then warm them up and, and I eat that.

Joe Rogan 58:40 You must be starving. I mean, the amount of calories-

Nims Purja 58:42 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 58:42 ... you're burning doing that must be insane.

Nims Purja 58:46 But you know what, Joe? You know, I carry only l-... Just to give s-... Like, it's the training again, the mentality. So-

Joe Rogan 58:51 Yeah.

Nims Purja 58:52 ... when I climb one 8,000-meter peak, I carry one liter of Thermos. Hot water, though. Okay?

Joe Rogan 58:57 One liter?

Nims Purja 58:58 One liter. And when I summit and get back down, I would only drink half a liter of that Thermos. I always stay reserved. But I think it's the mindset, it's the training. You know, you don't go so fast as well so you are, like, super out of breath and you are dehydrating. You know, every... my pace is calculated. And we know with the hot water, wha- what I used to do is, um, going into very basic, I scoop the cold snow, put the hot water, and that, you know... that one liter can be, like, three liters, right?

Joe Rogan 59:25 Oh, okay, yeah, smart.

Nims Purja 59:26 I, I, I drink that and-

Joe Rogan 59:27 Right.

Nims Purja 59:27 ... I always, like, preserve, you know, because in mountains anything could happen.

Joe Rogan 59:31 Right.

Nims Purja 59:31 You know, you may be stuck for three days.

Joe Rogan 59:33 Right.

Nims Purja 59:33 And if you just don't, don't plan and, and you start rationing and, and, and all those having that, you know, survival kind of, you know, like, m- you know, mentality, you will be... you'll just be dead. So...

Joe Rogan 59:42 Do you carry anything with you like, uh, a burner stove so you could melt water... melt ice or-

Nims Purja 59:48 No, not on 8,000 meters.

Joe Rogan 59:49 ... something to drink? No? Nothing?

Nims Purja 59:51 'Cause it's, it's already too heavy.

Joe Rogan 59:52 Yeah.

Nims Purja 59:52 You know, everything over there is... Is it nice to have or is it must have?

Joe Rogan 59:57 Right.

Nims Purja 59:57 If it's must have, then you take it. If it's nice to have, you don't 'cause it's-

Joe Rogan 1:00:01 Right.

Nims Purja 1:00:01 ... it's too crazy. And just to put things into perspective, if you are on like even, let's say, climbing Everest, you are 8,000-meter peak, just to get your gloves out, open your, like, you know, zipper, take the iPhone out, and take a picture, that's like dragging a car at sea level. And hence why people don't have many pictures 'cause it's, it's so much tiring.

Joe Rogan 1:00:20 Wow.

Nims Purja 1:00:20 It's multiplied by that, that much element.

Joe Rogan 1:00:23 And i- d- so you're just eating whatever food they have in the area?

Nims Purja 1:00:28 Yeah, yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:00:29 Are you... Are you trying to supplement yourself with vitamins or anything, to try... Is there anything that helps you?

Nims Purja 1:00:34 Mate, I'm t- I'm gonna be honest with you. I have never taken any supplements or anything in my whole life. Like, n-

Joe Rogan 1:00:38 No vitamins, nothing?

Nims Purja 1:00:39 Nothing.

Joe Rogan 1:00:40 Wow.

Nims Purja 1:00:41 Yeah. Even when I was training for the Special Forces, do all these things.

Joe Rogan 1:00:44 Just eating and working out?

Nims Purja 1:00:45 Just eating and, you know, th- I eat what I want and I just train hard and, yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:00:49 So, i- is there anything that they say you should or shouldn't do when you're, when you're i- in that environment? Like, I would think alcohol would be a terrible idea.

Nims Purja 1:01:00 (laughs) .

Joe Rogan 1:01:00 Right? Because it would dehydrate you, right?

Nims Purja 1:01:02 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:01:03 But you still drink alcohol up there?

Nims Purja 1:01:04 Yeah, I do. I do though, you know.

Joe Rogan 1:01:06 (laughs) .

Nims Purja 1:01:06 Because, but you know my rule is the moment I drink alcohol and I cannot perform, that's the end of it.

Joe Rogan 1:01:16 Mm-hmm.

Nims Purja 1:01:16 You can go and have fun, whatever you do in life, you know, of course you can, you can go. But as long as you don't mess up your mission plan, you know-

Joe Rogan 1:01:24 Yeah.

Nims Purja 1:01:25 ... that is good enough.

Joe Rogan 1:01:26 Dehydration's a real issue though, right?

Nims Purja 1:01:28 Yeah, I, it-

Joe Rogan 1:01:29 So, do you-

Nims Purja 1:01:29 ... it can be.

Joe Rogan 1:01:30 ... w- do you take electrolytes or anything?

Nims Purja 1:01:32 No.

Joe Rogan 1:01:32 Nothing?

Nims Purja 1:01:32 Nothing.

Joe Rogan 1:01:33 Nothing.

Nims Purja 1:01:33 I just drink water.

Joe Rogan 1:01:33 Just drink water?

Nims Purja 1:01:34 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:01:35 And how m- do you, how do you know whether you're dehydrated? Because that's one of the things they say about people when they're at high altitude is they don't recognize that they're dehydrated-

Nims Purja 1:01:43 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 1:01:44 ... and it becomes an issue.

Nims Purja 1:01:46 I think many people who are probably at that survival stage wouldn't know, but I, I'm in full control though, so I kind of know, you know, if I'm like-

Joe Rogan 1:01:53 Right.

Nims Purja 1:01:54 ... dehydrated and all that and, and I kind of look into very details. Hence why, you know, I keep saying, you know, like small thing matters on the big mountains. It's looking into really smaller things and, you know, there's a saying like, you know, "It's not the r- the rock, you know, that wears you out, you know, it's the, you know, small pebble in your f- in your, in your shoes."

Joe Rogan 1:02:13 Mm-hmm.

Nims Purja 1:02:13 You know that? (laughs) You know, so.

Joe Rogan 1:02:14 Yes, yes, yes.

Nims Purja 1:02:15 I think that's from Muhammad Ali I think? Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:02:17 Is that what he said?

Nims Purja 1:02:17 I think, yeah, yeah, that's what he said. So, there's like little things that, that, that fails you over there, not the big things. So, I, I pay attention on little things.

Joe Rogan 1:02:26 So, once you filmed this-

Nims Purja 1:02:28 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 1:02:28 So, you went through these, the entire 14 Peaks, you did it, you got it done.

Nims Purja 1:02:32 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 1:02:32 Once you filmed it, how long did it take before you brought it to Netflix? And did you bring it to like other places like Amazon or HBO or anything like that?

Nims Purja 1:02:42 So, again, yes, we did. Um, there was a, a big competition between Netflix and Disney+. I don't know if I'm allowed to say, I'm not gonna say anyway. But so they, and then, but for me, money has never been my priority in my life, you know. Otherwise, I would never be able to quit my Special Forces career, sell my house, and go and do this. Um, and even though the money offered by Disney was way higher, uh, you know, we decided to go with Netflix because I really felt like the movie 14 Peaks would change so many people's life in a positive way. And, and the whole idea here is it's not about climbing mountains really, it's always about, you know, we all have our own mountains to climb in life, you know, how we, we climb them. M- and that is the baseline of this whole story. So, um ...

Joe Rogan 1:03:34 So, you just went with Netflix 'cause it has a broader audience?

Nims Purja 1:03:36 Yes.

Joe Rogan 1:03:37 Wow. How much bigger is Netflix's audience than Disney+?

Nims Purja 1:03:40 So, I think, well, I-

Joe Rogan 1:03:41 Disney+ is pretty huge.

Nims Purja 1:03:42 Yeah, it's huge. But I think, you know, for me, I, I really wanted to reach out the world and, and, and, and, and you know, get this story out. So, yeah, I think that, you know, the, the whole 14 Peaks was, was obviously was available in all this country. Um, I don't know, I think Netflix has got 180 million subscribers. It was translated in 31 different languages.

Joe Rogan 1:04:04 Wow.

Nims Purja 1:04:05 So, so people can, you know, like listen in into different languages.

Joe Rogan 1:04:08 Do you know how many people have seen it? Did they tell you?

Nims Purja 1:04:10 It, well, they- they didn't tell me the figure-

Joe Rogan 1:04:12 They don't tell you shit.

Nims Purja 1:04:12 ... but they said like it was the most watched documentary-

Joe Rogan 1:04:14 Yeah.

Nims Purja 1:04:14 ... and I was like, "Okay."

Joe Rogan 1:04:15 That's what they do, man.

Nims Purja 1:04:16 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 1:04:16 They did that with my comedy specials. They don't tell you shit.

Nims Purja 1:04:19 Oh, did they?

Joe Rogan 1:04:19 Yeah. They just say-

Nims Purja 1:04:20 Oh.

Joe Rogan 1:04:20 ... "You're doing great."

Nims Purja 1:04:21 "You're doing great."

Joe Rogan 1:04:21 What does that mean?

Nims Purja 1:04:21 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:04:22 What does that mean?

Nims Purja 1:04:23 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:04:23 Nothing, you're just doing great.

Nims Purja 1:04:24 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:04:24 Like how great? Really great.

Nims Purja 1:04:26 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:04:26 What the fuck does that mean?

Nims Purja 1:04:27 (laughs) Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:04:28 They don't tell you. Well, it's like, it's a smart business model really, 'cause they-

Nims Purja 1:04:31 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:04:31 ... they don't have to. Why should they tell you?

Nims Purja 1:04:33 Yeah. Yeah, so, so that was the whole purpose and, you know, I'm glad, you know, it has-

Joe Rogan 1:04:38 It obviously worked.

Nims Purja 1:04:39 ... it has met... But you know what, Joe? Not, not really mate. You know, I think again, you know, at the end of the movie you have seen and if this was done by any European Western climbers or even American, look I'm not racist, but then this would have been, you know, 10 times bigger and still-

Joe Rogan 1:04:55 No, I don't think that.

Nims Purja 1:04:57 ... still that.

Joe Rogan 1:04:57 Ho- hold on.

Nims Purja 1:04:57 Okay.

Joe Rogan 1:04:57 Listen, man.

Nims Purja 1:04:58 Okay.

Joe Rogan 1:04:58 Your, your film is huge.

Nims Purja 1:05:00 Okay?

Joe Rogan 1:05:00 Do you know how many people... Yes, listen to me.

Nims Purja 1:05:02 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 1:05:02 Do you know how many people have talked to me about it?

Nims Purja 1:05:05 Oh.

Joe Rogan 1:05:05 Look, people know that I love extraordinary accomplishments.

Nims Purja 1:05:08 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:05:08 So, uh, uh, I've had so m- once Cam... Cam was the first 'cause he watched it like when it first came out.

Nims Purja 1:05:14 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:05:14 I've had so many people contact me about this. So many friends that, that, that talked about it-

Nims Purja 1:05:19 Oh.

Joe Rogan 1:05:19 ... and said how incredible it is. I don't think that would've been any different. I think it's probably better that you're you because-

Nims Purja 1:05:25 Okay.

Joe Rogan 1:05:26 ... you don't come from some sort of a media environment. You're not like a-

Nims Purja 1:05:30 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:05:30 ... Bear Grylls or someone like that-

Nims Purja 1:05:32 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 1:05:32 ... who's like a media star.

Nims Purja 1:05:33 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:05:33 You're just a, a guy with an amazing past who's genuine. I, I, I-

Nims Purja 1:05:38 Yeah, thank you, Joe.

Joe Rogan 1:05:38 Listen, I think it's perfect. I don't think it would've been bigger. Come on, son.

Nims Purja 1:05:42 S- still thanks.

Joe Rogan 1:05:43 (laughs)

Nims Purja 1:05:44 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 1:05:44 I don't think it would've been bigger if it was a, a white guy or an-

Nims Purja 1:05:47 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:05:47 ... Asian guy or a-

Nims Purja 1:05:48 Okay.

Joe Rogan 1:05:48 ... guy from anywhere else.

Nims Purja 1:05:49 Cool.

Joe Rogan 1:05:49 What you did is you and I think it's amazing. And it's also amazing because your, your mindset is not something you can replicate in a lot of people. I don't, I think you either have that mindset or you don't. I think, I don't think you could choose to have that mindset and make a film like that because you've had this mindset since you were a small boy. That mindset is not something you could just easily cultivate. So, I don't think there's a lot of-

Nims Purja 1:06:16 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:06:16 ... people like you out there, you know?

Nims Purja 1:06:19 Uh, uh, but the thing is though like some of the things that you can train, for example, you know, I always, you know, believe in the positivity and, and the impact is so huge. And sometimes a bit of negative can cost your life, and let me give you this example. I was in Everest in 2017, I was in process of, you know, breaking the world records. Uh, and I summited Everest, I got back down to Camp 4 on Lhotse. Now I'm supposed to climb Lhotse and then I found out my oxygen was stolen-... now, the fact-

Joe Rogan 1:06:53 Someone stole your oxygen-

Nims Purja 1:06:54 So, the fact over there-

Joe Rogan 1:06:55 ... from your camp?

Nims Purja 1:06:55 Yeah. It's from, from where we had to store it. So, the fact there is my s- my oxygen is, is stolen. That's the reality. Okay? But then all lot of people probably go mental saying that, "You know what? Fuck, my oxygen is stolen." They go out of the mine and, and they lose it, and then they, they blame that and they go down because that's the only way to do. And I was like, "No, how can I change the tide? How can I..." And what I really did at that point was, Joe, I said to myself, "Nims, your oxygen wasn't stolen. It was used by somebody else to rescue somebody, so it was used to save his life." And I, I completely believe in that lie, and this is a lie, but I have to believe in that by myself, and I was like, "Okay, so because of that, my oxygen, someone is alive and his family can see him." And I got that energy, and I went and summited Lhotse and got back down, brother.

Joe Rogan 1:07:45 So, you lied to yourself?

Nims Purja 1:07:46 I lied to myself. I had to believe in that.

Joe Rogan 1:07:48 That's a great way to do it.

Nims Purja 1:07:50 But sometimes, you know?

Joe Rogan 1:07:50 That's very, very wise. Yeah.

Nims Purja 1:07:52 Sometimes, you know, like, you have to lie to yourself and you got to believe in, in, in the positivity even though it's not, and then, and then you believe. What you believe is, is your god.

Joe Rogan 1:08:01 How could someone steal your oxygen? What a dirty person.

Nims Purja 1:08:04 Yeah, but it happens, brother.

Joe Rogan 1:08:06 Do you-

Nims Purja 1:08:07 I think they, they might be in that survival situation where they were, they didn't have the option and, uh-

Joe Rogan 1:08:12 Right.

Nims Purja 1:08:13 ... you know, when it comes into the, into the stage of survival, again, I give example o- of drowning in the sea because a lot of people understanding. It doesn't matter if it's, if your girlfriend or wife, you know, drowning next to you, you will grab them and try to survive. So-

Joe Rogan 1:08:27 Right, right.

Nims Purja 1:08:27 ... that's the situation-

Joe Rogan 1:08:28 Right.

Nims Purja 1:08:29 ... I think.

Joe Rogan 1:08:29 Yeah, people get desperate. Yeah. And, you know, who knows? They, maybe they're extremely poor.

Nims Purja 1:08:33 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:08:33 The, the, one of the things about Everest is that, you, you know, it gets... This is one negative thing that people say.

Nims Purja 1:08:40 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 1:08:40 That it's like a, a rich man's goal.

Nims Purja 1:08:43 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 1:08:44 Like, that they wanna be bragging at a cocktail party-

Nims Purja 1:08:46 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 1:08:46 ... about summiting Everest.

Nims Purja 1:08:48 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:08:48 And that really, it's the sherpas that are doing all the work.

Nims Purja 1:08:51 Yeah, so, so even there, Joe, sorry I interrupted, is two things. Um, again, it's what the media says, right? The media has got so much power these days and, and it could be completely wrong. And, no, Everest is not for every rich people. No. Because, y- let's, let's give my own example. Did I had money to climb all these things? No. Everything in life, look, either you become so good... If you are so good at it, you don't, you don't even need that much money to climb Everest, okay? Because you don't need social support.

Joe Rogan 1:09:25 Right.

Nims Purja 1:09:25 But if you are not that, if you don't have time to do that and, and, you know, if you have been working hard in, in, in your own world, in your work, and you have saved that money, you can go and climb with the support. So, I take things completely in, in a different way, because even now people will say, "Oh, I, I, if I had the money I would have climbed 14 peaks." I'm like, "Bullshit. I didn't even had the money."

Joe Rogan 1:09:49 Hmm.

Nims Purja 1:09:49 So, there's no excuses. So, I think everything in, in life, whatever you wanna do, has got two angle. Either you invest your career in that, you build up, you become so good so you can, you can do without bare minimum, or you're working in some industry but you're saving up to do. And I think for me, let's say for example if Albert Einstein wanted to go and climb Everest, I would say of course because he can experience that, right?

Joe Rogan 1:10:19 Depends on how old he is.

Nims Purja 1:10:20 I don't know, but yeah, exact-

Joe Rogan 1:10:21 How old-

Nims Purja 1:10:21 Well, 80 and then, and like-

Joe Rogan 1:10:22 How, what's the oldest guy that's ever climbed it?

Nims Purja 1:10:24 82.

Joe Rogan 1:10:25 82?

Nims Purja 1:10:25 82.

Joe Rogan 1:10:26 Whoa.

Nims Purja 1:10:26 So, so the big thing here is, you know, like, it's adventure, Joe. What I really believe is a lot of people, like, they all have rights to the adventure, and people don't really come and climb Everest or any other 1000 meter peak to be another Nims Dai or another, like, you know, the legend. But-

Joe Rogan 1:10:42 Right.

Nims Purja 1:10:43 ... they come to, to experience something. It's like running marathon. People run marathon because from that journey they take something away in their life, and then whatever they are doing, like a corporate world or business, they say, "You know what? I ran that whole marathon even I was, I was in agony, I was in pain. I can do this job. So, I climbed this Everest when it was so tough, but now I can do this thing." So, they, they climb for that experience, for that mindset to, to develop into different thing. And again, you choose, right? You, you, you, you pick and choose. So, okay, if I wanna go to space, well, either, you know, I be a, a scientist by myself, or I have the money, I use other people to the advantage and I go. Right?

Joe Rogan 1:11:24 Right.

Nims Purja 1:11:24 But it's about the experience and I think we humans should be more open to, to be helping each other and then cut all this negative away, and try to see from their perspective before making the judgment or before making any calls.

Joe Rogan 1:11:40 Well, you're saying that because you're a winner. And see, you gotta realize that haters are all losers and the people that are negative and they're constantly looking for a negative angle, most of them are failures, but they find a reason to disparage people's success.

Nims Purja 1:11:57 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:11:57 So, if it's a bunch of rich people that are climbing Mount Everest-

Nims Purja 1:12:00 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:12:00 ... they decide to just shit on these rich people that are climbing Mount Everest because it's an easy way to, like, find a negative angle on what's a positive accomplishment. But-

Nims Purja 1:12:11 100%.

Joe Rogan 1:12:11 ... but from their perspective, one thing that I do agree with them is that it is very unfortunate that the amount of human waste that's left behind, this disgusting amount of human shit-

Nims Purja 1:12:23 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 1:12:23 ... is left up there 'cause they just leave it up there.

Nims Purja 1:12:25 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 1:12:26 And they leave a lot of their trash up there. They leave the bodies up there. So, from their perspective, there is, there's value to the fact that even though they write these articles-

Nims Purja 1:12:36 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 1:12:36 ... shitting on these people, no pun intended, the, the, the... It at least brings attention to the fact that that is an issue.

Nims Purja 1:12:45 Okay. Yes, correct, Joe. That's an issue.

Joe Rogan 1:12:48 Yeah.

Nims Purja 1:12:48 But, you know, we are-

Joe Rogan 1:12:49 It shouldn't be the primary concern.

Nims Purja 1:12:50 We are, we are there to solve that issue now, you know? That's why.

Joe Rogan 1:12:53 That, that is amazing that you're gonna do that.

Nims Purja 1:12:54 That's why, you know? And, you know, right now I have been announced as a, as a goodwill ambassador for Nepal Tourism, so hopefully we can, you know, implement that kind of, you know, rule. So, look-... when I announced the Big Mountain Cleanup Project, I thought, you know, a few corporates organizing would support it.

Joe Rogan 1:13:11 Mm-hmm.

Nims Purja 1:13:11 And, and there wasn't.

Joe Rogan 1:13:12 Let me ask you this-

Nims Purja 1:13:13 So I put my own money, right? And then what I believe is, yes, sometimes you have to start by yourself. It's okay.

Joe Rogan 1:13:18 Right.

Nims Purja 1:13:18 So there wasn't like big, you know, you know, corporate industry or all these people came and said, "Nims, you know what? You announced the Big Mountain Cleanup Project. We are part of this outdoor industry. We are part of this... We can support you to, to bring all this rubbish." No, not