NANGA PARBAT:  In this picture taken on October 13, 2019, a Pakistani guide lays flowers in tribute at a memorial for alpinist Karl Unterkircher who died in 2008 while attempting to climb Nanga Parbat, in Nanga Parbat base camp.

Such was the determination of Nepali climber Nirmal Purja to climb the world’s 14 highest mountains, that he had them tattooed across his back, complete with swirling clouds and Tibetan prayer flags. (Photo by AMELIE HERENSTEIN / AFP)

KATHMANDU, Oct 29: Nirmal Purja of Myagdi has set a world record by climbing the world’s 14 mountain peaks above 8,000 meters tall.
He has succeeded in becoming the first mountaineer so far to scale the world’s all the mountains above 8,000 meters in altitude in seven months duration with the ascent of the Sisapangma mountain peak located in Tibet of

China. He climbed Sisapangma peak (8,027 meters tall) on Monday.
Although the Chinese government had banned climbing the Sisapangma peak until 2019, it had accepted Purja’s request to scale the peak for the purpose of setting the world record and issued him a special permit.

Born in Dana village of Annapurna rural municipality-3 in 1983, Purja is a former British Gurkha and Special Boat Service (SBS) soldier, an elite special forces unit of the United Kingdom’s Royal Navy.

In May 2019, Purja completed the first phase of his “Project Possible 14/7” confirming to have reached the first seven summits of the 14 eight-thousanders he intended to conquer within 7 months: Annapurna, Dhaulagiri, Kanchenjunga, Lhotse, Makalu, Mount Everest, and Nanga Parbat.

He completed the second phase within in July, 2019, climbing Nanga Parbat (8126 meters, Pakistan, climbed July 6, 2019), Gasherbrum I (8010 meters, Pakistan, climbed July 15, 2019), Gasherbrum II (8035 meters, Pakistan, climbed July 18, 2019), K2 (8611 meters, Pakistan, climbed July 24, 2019) and Broad Peak (8047 meters, Pakistan, climbed July 26, 2019).

The third and last phase started in September 2019. He summitted Cho Oyu (8188 meters, Tibet, China) on September 23, 2019 and Manaslu (8163 meters, Nepal) on September 27, 2019.

He climbed Mt Dhaulagiri without oxygen. Eight of the 14 mountain peaks Purja has climbed are in Nepal.
It is said so far no other mountaineer except Purja has climbed 14 mountain peaks above 8,000 meters high in the shortest duration.RSS