words per minute
10
lovelesh_shrivatri
00:00
Speed
Nirmal Purja, widely known as Nims Dai was one of the most recognizable Nepali mountaineers of his generation. A former Gurkha and member of the UK Special Boat Service, he became internationally known through Project Possible, his 2019 challenge to climb all 14 mountains above meters within seven months. He completed the sequence in just 189 days. His career later included the historic first winter ascent of numerous high-altitude speed records, and a successful attempt to climb all 14 true summits without supplementary oxygen. His journey was also documented in the Netflix film 14 Peaks: Nothing Is Impossible. On August 1, 2026 his company Elite Exped confirmed that Purja had died following an avalanche on Broad Peak in Pakistan. He was 43. His death brought an extraordinary mountaineering career to an unexpected end. But understanding why Nims Dai mattered requires looking beyond his final expedition to the unusual path that took him from the British military to the world's highest mountains. Nirmal Purja was born in Dana, Myagdi, near Nepal’s Dhaulagiri region, and spent much of his childhood in Chitwan. Growing up, his ambition was not to become a professional mountaineer but to follow members of his family into the Gurkhas.He joined the Brigade of Gurkhas in 2003. Six years later, he was selected for the UK’s Special Boat Service, becoming the first Gurkha to join the elite unit.Purja eventually completed a 16-year military career, including ten years with the UK Special Forces. The work demanded endurance, teamwork, planning and the ability to make decisions under pressure, qualities that later became closely associated with his approach to high-altitude expeditions.Mountaineering, however, entered his life relatively late. Purja’s interest in climbing began during military leave in December 2012, when he joined a trek to Everest Base Camp.After reaching base camp, he persuaded his guide to teach him the basics of climbing. Soon afterwards, he climbed Lobuche East at 6,119 meters, his first Himalayan peak.What began as curiosity developed quickly. Within several years, climbing was no longer something he fitted around his military career. It had become the direction he wanted his life to take.That eventually forced him to make a much larger decision. By 2019, Purja had spent 16 years in the British military. Walking away meant leaving behind a secure career and the financial stability that came with it.His mountaineering ambitions, however, had grown too large to pursue alongside military service.He left to focus on an idea that many people considered unrealistic: climbing all 14 of the world’s mountains above 8,000 metres within seven months.The challenge became known as Project Possible 14/7. The risk was not purely physical. Purja later spoke about beginning the project without all the funding he needed and struggling to convince sponsors that such an ambitious schedule could actually be completed.At that point, there was no Netflix documentary and no internationally recognized Nims Dai brand. He was a former soldier trying to prove that an idea many doubted could be done.