Modern WisdomClimbing The Fourteen Highest Mountains On Earth - Nims Purja | Modern Wisdom Podcast 256
EVERY SPOKEN WORD
95 min read · 19,436 words- 0:00 – 15:00
At 8,450 meters, we…
- NPNims Purja
At 8,450 meters, we found a climber with oxygen was running out. Then we gave our oxygen to him, so he's straightaway, he's alive. We started rescuing him down. Then we got another climber. He also ran out of his oxygen. So we gave our oxygen, so we are off oxygen now. Conducting the rescue from 8,450 meters without oxygen when you are not acclimatized is a suicidal mission. But we knew what our body was capable of. All these rescue stuff, you know, for me, it comes because I want to sleep peacefully when I go to bed, brother. And I don't want to say that, "Okay, and I left this, you know, fellow climbers behind," when I had the ability to do, do the rescue.
- CWChris Williamson
(wind blowing) Nims Bloody Purja, how are you, my brother?
- NPNims Purja
I'm good, Chris, and so, you know, glad to be here, you know, talking with you in your podcast and all. You keeping well?
- CWChris Williamson
I'm very well, man. I'm in the fifth location that I've recorded in, out in Dubai, so for everybody that's watching, this is yet another backdrop that you need to get used to. Thankfully, the internet is significantly better here, and you're in... Is that your garden?
- NPNims Purja
I'm in Kathmandu, brother, you know, so yeah. I'm staying in this, you know, uh, Hotel Park Palace. They're like family to me, and, uh, yeah, that's why I'm here quarantined, so, uh...
- CWChris Williamson
It looks beautiful, man. It looks beautiful.
- NPNims Purja
Yeah.
- CWChris Williamson
Let's get into it. You were six years away from a full pension-
- NPNims Purja
(clears throat)
- CWChris Williamson
... from the Special Forces, and then you leave to climb 14 of the highest mountains on Earth. Why?
- NPNims Purja
Wow. Spot on, buddy. So for me, everything, what I do in life, it needs to have a purpose. And, um, I started climbing, you know, first when I was 29 year old, and that kind of start leading into, into the project, which was to climb all the 14 highest mountain of the world, which is over 8,000 meters. We call that as a Death Zone peak, and there are only 14 of those. And, uh, the fastest someone had climbed this was, you know, nearly eight years, you know, 14 days short, eight years. And, uh, I felt like I could do this in, you know, within seven months. Um, and why, why I left all my, you know, like job security, pension, and everything, it was purely because I felt like I had a bigger purpose. And, um, honestly, if it was money, for money, I would have never been able to achieve this kind of, you know, uh, goal or project. If it was for the selfishness or it was just for our family or, you know, all this love, affections, and all those bubbles that we live in, again, I wouldn't be even close to achieving this kind of, you know, mission. But what I had purely believed in was, I really wanted to show the world that, you know, what human body is capable of. And for those who doesn't understand, you know, the big, you know, high altitude mountaineering in the thin air and all that, just to put things into perspective, what I was saying at that point was, "Okay, if the world record for, you know, the full marathon is two hours, I'm gonna do that in 10 minutes."
- CWChris Williamson
(laughs)
- NPNims Purja
That was the equivalent of this project. That's why everybody was laughing at me at that point, you know. No, nobody would believe in this. No sponsorship came in through. But then again, you know, I had a cool reason why I was doing it. Uh, I just told you one, and the second one was, the Nepalese climbers, you know, have been the frontier of 8,000-meter peak. And, you know, when you, you, you hear the story, they always say, "Oh, yeah, they all just carry, you know, big loads and very strong," and all that. Not really. You know, we are much more bigger than that. We have our own decision-making capability. We all can guide. We all are super technical climbers as well. And I felt like the, the justice needs to be done there. So I wanted to raise the name of the Nepalese climbers in an international platform, which was very close to me. Um, so that's the second reason. And the third as well was, you know, I truly believe the house that I live is not my home. I believe in Earth is our home, because, you know, that's where you're most alive. You know, you don't... If you... Let's say, just to give you an example, very tiny example, if you stay in your home, if you've got bigger problem, whatever it is, your home doesn't kind of, you know, like, relieve you. It doesn't give you the thrive. It doesn't give you excitement. It doesn't give you adventure. But then Earth is a bigger home, where let's say, for example, even though you are super stressed, you got any problem, if you go for just, like, hill walking or a, a walk by the river or by the nature or in the glacier, you're super happy. So our, our actual home is Earth. And I felt like, with the experience that I had seen, I really believe that, you know, I need to raise the awareness about climate change and global warming. And those three were the main pillars why I did why I did. So... And I, I truly believe on those, you know, purpose. Uh, and, and, and that's why this mission came. And for that, of course, as I said, I had to sacrifice my job. I had to give up my pension. My mom and dad were really upset at the start. My brother didn't spoke to me for like three months. And there wasn't a full financial gains. I had to re-mortgage my house, and there was not even still sponsorship. Every day, I was, I was working so hard, and I have never been this stressed out in my life. And I will tell you this example. I was driving in a motorway, and, um, every day, I would go to, like, London to meet four or five people, do the sales pitch, and, and come back home. But everywhere I go, they were like, "Oh, it's not possible." And then, "If you think you are that good, why we haven't heard your name before?" And I used to say, "Okay, I came from Special Forces background, and we have to be covert." So even though I had these all world records, I had saved people's life, nobody knew about it.... and all this craziness, brother. And I, I remember that night when everybody was saying, "No," and, and, "This is impossible." I was driving in a motorway and I had, like, tears coming through, through my eyes. I stopped, I had to obviously debrief myself, and then I cracked on. And, and this is all was for the bigger purpose, and I felt like I had, I have somehow, you know, achieved, you know, those purposes and, and then those reasons why I wanted to do this, uh, this mission. So, yeah, it's, it's, uh, it's loads of history over there, brother.
- CWChris Williamson
That's beautiful, man. What do you want people to take away from what you did? You said that you wanted to prove-
- NPNims Purja
(clears throat)
- CWChris Williamson
... human capability. What are the lessons that you want the general public to take away, people who aren't going to climb Everest, who aren't going to try and do this-
- NPNims Purja
Yeah.
- CWChris Williamson
... psychopathic endurance events?
- NPNims Purja
Every moment when I was in the mountain, Chris, you know, when I felt like I was gonna die, I said, "Nims, not today. Not today." And, uh, I really felt like my story should come out, because I know for a fact it's gonna change so many people's life. I know that, because it has, it has changed my life. For example, if you look at who is Nims Dai Parajul, he was under-privileged in a kid who was born in Nepal, didn't even have flip-flops. I used to live in the, in the house, in this room where, like, the chicken farming was on top of us. From there, you know, I wanted to join the Gurkhas. Then, I didn't even made it on the first attempt, even though I was the fastest man, I was the fittest guy. There was a vacancy for 25 people. Out of 2,000 candidates who came out there, only 18 passed the physical test, and I was amongst those 18. But just because the, the, the guy who was assessing di- didn't like me, he kicked me out. I had the rights to get that vacancy, that pass, because there was 25 passes and I was just amon- amongst 18 people who passed those tests. But then I didn't give up. I went second time again, and I eventually made it. Then even from the Gurkhas, to going into Special Forces, the Gurkhas had served in the British military for 200 years, and none of them had ever made it into a Special Boa- Service. So for me, at that point, when I heard about SBS, UK Special Forces, it was like, "Oh man, this is like James Bond stuff. You know, they are so cool-"
- CWChris Williamson
(laughs)
- NPNims Purja
... "and you got to be so good at this, you got to be this and got to be that. You got to be super fit, super smart, all these things." And when I said I wa- I wanted to be part of that group, again, my friends started laughing about it. You know, my, even some people who I really inspire, who I used to get inspired by them, you know, some mentor, some, like, officers who were saying that, "Nims, it's not possible. You know, in order to go over there, you shouldn't be only super fit, you've got to have the knowledge, like, brain of a tank man." I was like, "Yeah, whatever man." But then I worked so hard because it was unknown to me. I came from landlocked country and then nobody had ever made it into the SBS, and, uh, and my own training regime was mental. I had never trained like this in my whole life, brother. I used to wake up at one o'clock, I used to carry like 75 to 80 pounds on my back. I used to tab, which is a speed march, 20 kilometers. I used to be at, at, at the military camp by, like, seven o'clock. Then I do normal physical training with the, my military guys for an hour, whatever that physical, you know, PT is. Then I work whole day as, um, as a labor because I was engineer and I was, you know, building and instructor finisher, so it's tiling, it's painting, it's plastering. And at the evening I used to, again, run clean fatigue. I, like, I used to leave my burger in the school and I, I run back to the house, again, 20 kilometers. Quick food, then I go to the gym, I cycled 65 miles again. From Nepal, not a good swimmer. Then I used to do freestyle, like, 100 lengths in 25 meters pool. And I used to literally finish about, like, not before 10 o'clock. Then I used to be, again, couple of hours rest and then I'm doing that same thing again. And I never said, "I'm tired." I never said, "Oh, it's, it's raining today," or, "It's, it's snowing today." I never said that. It was, you know, like, relentless of- in hard work. And I eventually made it.
- CWChris Williamson
What's the drive? What was, what was the drive to keep you doing that?
- NPNims Purja
It- It's, it's the love for the thing, mate. It wasn't never for money. I did never want it to be like... You know, of course, when you join Special Forces, you get paid a lot. You get so much facilities, you got so many access to the, to the, to the other, other stuff, and you are super respected as well in the community. But I never joined UK Special Forces to be a general or to make millions or to make more money than anybody else. It was just I wanted to be part of that cool group who earned their respect, you know? And that's what the driving was come fr- it's, it's for the love. And of course, if you love something, you got to commit, you got to (smacks lips) dedicate, you got to work 10 times harder than anybody else out there. So yeah, after serving 10 years with the, with the Special Forces, I was like, "Okay, yeah, what's next?" And then I got this idea of climbing all the 14 highest mountain and then my purpose was again bigger than where I am from, who I am, bigger than my family, bigger than anything el- else. It was, it was for the human race and that's what it kept me fired up, brother. And it was like, you know what? Money is nothing. You know, we all go one day, we all die one day. Doesn't matter how much you, you make, doesn't matter how much money you, you have, you're gonna go as you, as you can (laughs) . So if you've got the purpose and bigger stuff and you've got the happiness, come on. That's who I am, buddy.
- CWChris Williamson
That's a beautiful message, man. I spoke to mutual friend of ours and past Modern Wisdom guest, Jay Morton, the other day, and he gave me some inside information on you. He told me that during Special Forces selection in the jungle-
- NPNims Purja
(laughs) Yeah.
- CWChris Williamson
... you were nearly killed by a tree while you were asleep.
- NPNims Purja
Yeah, it fell like... (laughs)
- CWChris Williamson
Yeah, he said that dead trees falling is, like-
- NPNims Purja
Yeah.
- CWChris Williamson
... the number one killer.... of people in the jungle.
- 15:00 – 30:00
So what- …
- NPNims Purja
14 seven." I can sense it. They're like, "It's good to say, but do you even know what it takes to climb one 8,000-meter peak?" Because those people knew it, so those people kind of knew the- the- the enormity of this, the size of the project. But then regular people, they- they didn't know what it was. And hence-
- CWChris Williamson
So what-
- NPNims Purja
... why.
- CWChris Williamson
... what sets you apart then? You've got these very experienced mountaineers, much more experienced than you were when-
- NPNims Purja
Mm-hmm.
- CWChris Williamson
... you started. And they're saying, "This is impossible." The previous record was seven years as opposed to-
- NPNims Purja
(coughs)
- CWChris Williamson
... seven months.
- NPNims Purja
Mm-hmm.
- CWChris Williamson
What is it about you? Why- w- why were you able to do it?
- NPNims Purja
Okay. It's very simple, brother. You know, just, I had a bit of talent. You know, like, such as, like, people like Usain Bolt, people like Muhammad Ali, they have the natural talent, but then I also worked maybe 20 times harder than any other people in the world. I say it. And every time and- and then... And it wasn't just, like, given to me, brother. You know, I climb in the wind speed of 75 kilometer per hour. People can't even dare to get out of their house in, like, normal storm. Forget that you are at- at the death zone and you are, like, the- the- the wind is blasting your tent with the snow, and it's so cold. It's- it's beyond people imagination. And then, you know what? I haven't slept for 19 days in Pakistan when I was climbing this- this peak, 'cause we had to run everywhere to make it for the, for the base camp, and then- and then there's the summit. And if you don't sleep for 24 hours, you imagine how you feel. And then that's you without doing anything else. You, let's say, you- you don't even have a thing to do. If I'm burning my energy like a tin man, if I'm climbing in that brutal conditions, if I'm climbing this- this high-altitude mountains where people take two months to climb, and I haven't slept, why I did that? Because I believed in my purpose. I believe in the vision. I was gonna show the world that nothing is impossible, and- and I put my name into it. I put the reputation of UK Special Forces into it. I put the reputation of Gurkhas into it, and I put the reputation of, you know, like, Nepalese climbers into it. At no point I honestly believe that I had the right to make Mickey out of my project because I didn't do well. And when you believe in anything what you do, sometimes you might have to exaggerate that, but this is who I am. I felt like people have given their life to- to- to have that reputation. People have worked so... It wasn't my reputation to damage it. It was built on layers, layers, hundreds of years by those hardworking men behind the scene to build that reputation, and who am I as a Nimsdai to ruin that reputation? And I believe in that. It could be wrong, but then I believe that, you know, I had much more to give, and I was showing the world that, you know what? Do not let anybody tell you that you are impossible. Coming from... As you asked, Chris, earlier, you said, "What is the- the main story here?" The main story is, like, you- you can come from nowhere else like me. You don't need to have an opportunity like me. You know, you don't need to have support like me.... but then if you work hard enough, if you commit to it, if you dedicate into it, even though there, there will be negativity, there will be challenge, you turn that into positivity, you can achieve the success against all the odds. That is a very simple message from all this stuff. And I hope anybody can relate their life into this story, because we all have our own mountains to climb. We all have our own challenges. But how we overcome that challenge, how we become that person, I believe that the eight billion population has got their own talents. But you need to find out what your talent is, and if you love that stuff, and you work ten times harder than everybody else, you will be number one.
- CWChris Williamson
You said that you were talented. What does talent mean when it comes to mountaineering? Is it-
- NPNims Purja
So-
- CWChris Williamson
... capacity in your lungs? Because you had, you overcame, was it TB and asthma as like, a kid?
- NPNims Purja
Yeah. Yeah.
- CWChris Williamson
So as someone who's pre-asthmatic, to me, doesn't strike me as the sort of person that makes a fantastic mountaineer that goes above 8,000 meters.
- NPNims Purja
Oh, yeah, brother. You know, like, I, I believe, again, you know, the, the power of believing is, is massive. Your brain controls your body. That's really simple science, you know? What you believe, if you believe in your brain that you can run 10 kilometers, you can run 10 kilometers. But if you believe that you can just do only one kilometer, you can do only one kilometer. And it's, it's the power of the brain, buddy. And if I feel I can heal quicker, I will heal quicker. Because if you put same patients in the hospital with similar injuries, the person who believe that he can overcome those in- injuries or whatever it is will get healed better. And now, coming into the capacity buddy. I wasn't even born at altitude. I was born in the most flattest part of, of Nepal, and it's, it's so hot, even the flies dives at the road, man. It's like, super hot. It's Chitwan. Um, but yeah, somehow, you know, I, I kind of had this ability to acclimatize well. And that's what pretty much all of this, you know, people who live in high altitude have the similar ability. But what it makes me different is, is the decision-making ability, the purpose, why I was doing this stuff. It wasn't just for nothing. I, I was on a mission. I was on, on an objective. I w- had a clear aim, I had a clear direction. That's why, you know, I became who I am.
- CWChris Williamson
(laughs)
- NPNims Purja
And, and it's very simple.
- CWChris Williamson
Tell us the story about when you were awake for all of those days in Pakistan.
- NPNims Purja
(clears throat) It was crazy, brother. And, and at some point where you feel like as if you are climbing, like, "Oh, my God, I have, I have, I have went so loud about this project, (laughs) Jesus, you know, like, I cannot obviously come back." You know, of course sometimes, and then you just feel like that pain is so hard, you feel like, "I wish that avalanche comes from that mountain and just kill me endikş and that kills all the pain." But then you think like, "No, Nims, it's not about that." And then sometimes, 'cause you haven't slept, you know, you are literally, like, climbing and you fall asleep and you go, "Oh, sh- shit." You know? If, if you miss this one, you'll probably die. Then human body is kind of, you know, like, doing its automatic stuff. But then I used to, like, "Oh, my God, no, no, no, no, no, no, I..." I used to grab the snow and rub in my face, put it in my armpit and I was like, "Aah!" Then if that doesn't work for a bit, then I used to shout so loud on the mountain like a madman, you know? Yeah.
- CWChris Williamson
Honestly, I used to, like, you know, make noise and then the noise is so loud (laughs) that it wakes you awake. But then you can do for so long because, you know, you got so much, you know, energy to do that. Then again, back to the snow and back to, you know, like, you know, your points, why you were doing it, who are you, all these, you know, motivating factors. So you build them as you, as you, as you go, and the- and then that's, that's something you need to have, I guess. (laughs) Has it changed you as a person?
- NPNims Purja
No, man. I'm still simple guy. I'm still, you know, I, I respect the nature. You know, um, I still say, you know, I'm humble, but then, you know, we all have ego, brother. We all have, people, everybody as a human has ego. But the size of my ego depends upon who I talk to. If they're respectful, I'm respectful. If they wanna come with the biggest, you know, ego that they couldn't put their head inside the door, I'll kick them out already, because I think I have done enough to, to do that. And that's not with me as well. Anybody in the world, nobody wants that kind of a person to deal with. We all have, you know, that kind of stuff, but it's all about how you manage it. I would love to say, and I want to stay humble, I respect those people who are humble, but if people wanna come with all this stuff, I don't have time for that, brother. Park it and...
- CWChris Williamson
Move on. Um, can you explain what it's like going up the side of a mountain? 'Cause I've climbed up hills before, but that's just me one foot in front of the other. It's basically a path on an incline.
- NPNims Purja
Mm-hmm.
- CWChris Williamson
And upon reading the book, there's all different manner of, uh, teamwork that goes on with the person in front who has to cut through snow and there's different heights of snow. Can you just take us-
- NPNims Purja
Yeah.
- CWChris Williamson
... through what it's like to, to go up the side of a mountain?
- NPNims Purja
(laughs) Okay. So I would like to speak about, uh, the trail blazing here. So trail blazing is like you are the first man on that snow, you know, and then during the project, we, we brai- we trail blaze on these snow conditions up to, like, waist deep and chest deep. And what that means is, like, you know, some point, you got to create a gap, and then you roll your hip and then you sink in and then you go ... and, and it's so much tough because you need oxygen in your muscles to operate. When you have no oxygen, your lungs is like, dying to, to support, you know, the, the, the air in your muscles. It's tough, bro. It's like, even grabbing, like, ten ... depending upon who you are, grabbing a, a, a day backpack of, you know, ten kgs is like dragging a car at the sea level. And if you have to trail blaze like that-... every steps count, and every breath counts, and every second is as painful as probably I can explain. But then, (gasps) for me, why I do that? Maybe I say, I love that kind of an e- stuff. I love when there's a challenge. I love it because, you know, it's something that make me... Come on, you know? It also make me feel like I'm living in the moment. I'm not thinking about how much more does I have to pay. I don't have to worry about what this is going on, what the war is doing. I'm just living in the moment saying, "If I get this wrong, I could probably die, because, you know, I, I don't have enough time to go back to the summit and come back." And sometimes you are leading in a very technical regions where it's a blue ice. For example, on K2, if you make mistake, you die. And then, and the other point here is imagine you are sleeping in the tent at, at, at the and it's so cold that, you know, you are in the sleeping bag, it's warm. As soon as you leave that, you've got, like, snow coming into your face. It's like, it's horrible. But then you have to wake up, and it's so cold that it takes half an hour to put your boots on time. To get out of that comfort from that sleeping bag at the middle of the night and then get ready, that is the biggest mission as well. So it's, it's so tough from all level, w- a- as I said, you know? It is a Learning about trailblazing, like the specifics about how you do it, you walk forward, you make a hole in waist-high- You cap the space, yeah.
- CWChris Williamson
... snow, yeah, with your chest. So you use your belly, I guess, as like a-
- 30:00 – 45:00
Uh, we'll see. We'll…
- CWChris Williamson
body, man.
- NPNims Purja
Uh, we'll see. We'll find out hopefully. (laughs)
- CWChris Williamson
That would be cool. Talk to us about that Everest photo.
- NPNims Purja
All right, pal, this, you know, I, I, it was used in a wrong reason. It was used, uh, misutilized by the media people, and some of them didn't even g- give the credit, and, and I'm super upset. I will tell you the, the exact thing, because I have been there. This is, this is my world, you know? Every year, 20,000 people climb Mont Blanc. It's the highest mountain in Europe. More than 20,000 people. And then, if you try to capture the queue of people of, like, 20,000 people, how, how much queue are you gonna see on Mont Blanc? Well, unlike Mount Everest, Mont Blanc has got so many different opportunities. It's, it has got different weather conditions. And there are so many, like, you know, I would say, um, opportunities of getting to the summit at different time interval. And it's not 8,000 meters, it's only, you know, like, 5,000. But Everest, only, like, 1,200 permit were issued, and that number is relatively low. It wasn't any bigger than 2014, 2013, '11 or anything else. And a lot of people were commenting about this without knowing about Everest, you know? They were like, "Oh, it's a tourist and all." It's like, no, it's not. You know, you've got to go into the mountain, you've got to accommodate for almost two months, you've got to climb through this Khumbu Icefall that can kill you at any time, then forget the Lhotse Wall. It's like 1.6 miles, you know? And it's about 55 degrees. You've got to climb that, then into the South Col, then you got to climb the Everest. Have you done that? If you haven't, then please don't comment. Now, coming into that picture, a lot of these kind of people were over there, and that season, because of the whole weather condition, there was only one good day towards the end of the season. And of course, if you have put your time, effort, money, some people have sold their house, you wanna go for that, you wanna take that opportunity. So everybody took their opportunities. It's a, it's a human thing. And don't say that, "Oh, it's a tourist." No, man. You know, if you haven't been there and if you haven't done that, you know... Yeah. And then that's when it upset me, because, you know, people use it for the wrong reason. You know? If you have climbed Everest in, in whatever way, then you can talk. But then again, be true to yourself, you know? And then a lot of people ask me, "Oh, Everest is a lot easier," and it's like, not really, man, because I spoke with Reinhold Messner, who climbed all this in 8,000 without oxygen. If you remove all the support, manpower, the s- the, the, the Sherpas and everybody else, Everest is, is still the hardest mountain to climb. You cannot even go through the Khumbu Icefall. Forget, you know, Lhotse Wall. So if you don't know enough knowledge, don't talk about it, guys. That's all I wanna say.
- CWChris Williamson
It was interesting that that's your viewpoint on it, and that's the reason... I mean, why did you take the photo? For that reason? Just 'cause it was interesting and impressive?
- NPNims Purja
I, I, no, no, no. No, no, no, no. I took the reason because I was trying to climb Everest and Lhotse in just six hours. My previous record was 10 hours 15 minute, which I had broken accidentally. I didn't even knew that. I was just, like, going in my normal pace. So when I said I was gonna broke my world record by, like, you know, let's say in almost half, because at this point I'm conscious, so... But then I got stuck in the traffic and all that.
- CWChris Williamson
Ah.
- NPNims Purja
And I was just like, if somebody... Because-
- CWChris Williamson
Yes.
- NPNims Purja
... I'm a m- I'm a man of my word, and if somebody questioned me, like, "Okay, you said that, but you didn't do it," people are always like that, man. You will find people like this. And I would say, "Okay, it's good, you say me that, but then this is the reason." I, it was just for my evidence-
- CWChris Williamson
I understand.
- NPNims Purja
... to make these, like, negative haters shut, shut their mouth.
- CWChris Williamson
Yeah.
- NPNims Purja
But then it was used in other purpose, brother, but hey.
- CWChris Williamson
Yeah, wow. Man, that's so interesting that, in your opinion as someone who's more qualified than pretty much everybody on the planet to talk about going up and down mountains quickly-
- NPNims Purja
Oh.
- CWChris Williamson
... you're still saying Everest's the hardest mountain to climb on the planet if it's unsupported. It's still, even-
- NPNims Purja
Yeah.
- CWChris Williamson
... supported incredibly difficult.
- NPNims Purja
It's still tough.
- CWChris Williamson
The reason that the mountain on that day was so heavily populated is because of the, um, backlog of people you get when they do a push to base camp one, base camp two, and then they finally go up and down in a day, you only had a short window of weather, and then it-
- NPNims Purja
Summit, yeah.
- CWChris Williamson
Yeah, it gets flipped, because the message that came across to me as a normal member of the public was, look at these rich, lazy adventure wannabes who are paying probably-
- NPNims Purja
Yeah.
- CWChris Williamson
... cheap local Sherpas to carry all of their stuff up. You know what it reminded me of?
- NPNims Purja
Hm.
- CWChris Williamson
This is what I thought when I first saw all of the news stories. Have you seen those images of people who've shot lions in, um-
- NPNims Purja
Mm-hmm.
- CWChris Williamson
... parks in Africa and stuff like that? And there's always, it's always a rich American businessman, he's a bit fat, he's sweating-
- NPNims Purja
Yeah.
- 45:00 – 49:42
That'll be linked in…
- NPNims Purja
But then again, you know, going into now Kangchenjunga, the world's third highest mountain, we rescued four people. And this is very important message here, brother. At 8,450 meters, we found a climber with oxygen was running out, okay? Then we give our oxygen to him, so he's straight away, he's alive. We started rescuing him down. Then we got another climber. He also ran out of his oxygen. So we give our oxygen. So we are off oxygen now. Conducting the rescue from 8,450 meters without oxygen when you are not acclimatized, I say it, when you are not acclimatized, is a suicidal mission. But we knew what our body was capable of and all that. So again, you know all this rescue stuff, you know, for me, it comes because I wanna sleep peacefully when I go to bed, brother. You know, I don't wanna say that, okay, now I left this, you know, man or, you know, you know, female or fellow climbers behind when I had the ability to do, do the rescue. Yeah, of course, you know, my project is important, but then, you know, life is important than that, brother. So yeah, but that's who I am, and again, you know, if you're listening to this story, guys, and if you want to, you know, know in-depth knowledge, you know, why I do things and, and, and, and, and why I am who I am and all, there is in-depth history on, on my book, Beyond Possible. So yeah, feel free to dig in.
- CWChris Williamson
That'll be linked in the show notes below, man. Don't worry, we will be pushing everybody for that as well.
- NPNims Purja
Boom.
- CWChris Williamson
What's next for you?
- NPNims Purja
Well, I'm preparing for K2 winter, uh, expedition. So K2 is the only mountain in the world, it's the second-highest mountain in the world, that has never been on climb in winter. So all other 8,000 meter peak have been, have been climbed in winter. It's, it's the last greatest. I don't know, whatever the fit you say it. So yeah, I'm out there, buddy. I'm out there this Christmas, uh, and New Year to go and do this. I'm still working on a sponsorship, and hopefully, you know, that will pull through and, uh, I can go and do this again in another impossible stuff. So yeah.
- CWChris Williamson
So that's this year, climbing the second-highest mountain in the world in the worst conditions possible?
- NPNims Purja
Yeah.
- CWChris Williamson
(laughs)
- NPNims Purja
And no one has ever climbed an, a K2 in winter, so yeah. It's, um...
- CWChris Williamson
What is it that's gonna make that difficult? S- wind speeds, temperature, ice?
- NPNims Purja
Yes.
- CWChris Williamson
What is it?
- NPNims Purja
Oh, you're gonna get, you know, hurricane winds. It's gonna be minus 65, you know, Celsius, and then it's gonna be, it's gonna be so cold, you know, you... Yeah, it's gonna be bone-cold, you know? But yeah, we'll see, man. We'll see how, you know, like, um, you know, how, how we get on over there, you know. At the end of the day, the nature has, you know, bigger things to say. Uh, still, you know, we are positive. We have got the, the right attitude. We got the speed. Uh, but again, you know, sometimes, you know, just being the best is not enough for this kind of, you know, like fit. Um, no one can defeat the nature. We only get the passes. If we got the passes, we'll do it. If we, if we don't get it and it's beyond our, like, you know, capabilities or whatever it is due, due to the weather conditions, you got to stay humble.
- CWChris Williamson
Man, I, I absolutely love it. Today's been fantastic. Uh, people want to check out more to do with you, where should they go?
- NPNims Purja
Uh, mate, I am available... I think most of my stuff are, you know, updated and, and in, in tune on my Instagram, uh, @nimzdai. Um, so yeah. And also, you know, like for K2 and all, once we, we properly announce it, which I haven't announced it because of the sponsorship stuff at the moment, and if, if that deal comes through, I'm gonna announce it. We'll have a website page and all that. But yeah, just, just in Instagram at the moment.
- CWChris Williamson
Perfect. Beyond Possible will be linked in the show notes below as well. Go and check it out. It's a really fantastic read, and you get to go into all of the details that we didn't have time for today. Man, I, uh, I don't know. I feel like I want to go and climb up the side of a building or go and-
- NPNims Purja
(laughs)
- CWChris Williamson
... go and do something crazy now. Um, I, I think that you're a wonderful ambassador, man. It seems like you're very aligned with what it is that you want in terms of purpose, with trying to live in, um, synchronicity with the world. I, I, I think that the next few years are gonna have wonderful things. So make sure that you get back from K2 in one piece, man, 'cause I think that we need more people like you.
- NPNims Purja
Thank you, my man. And, and that means a lot to me, brother.
- CWChris Williamson
Thank you.
- NANarrator
(instrumental music)
Episode duration: 49:43
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