Nims Purja on the success of '14 Peaks,' documentary about his epic mountaineering record

I hope a few people find this article as fascinating as I do. Nims Purja, a Gurkha and former British SBS Special Operator, quit the military in an attempt to climb the 14 highest mountains in the world in 7 months. The previous record for climbing all 14 mountains was over 7 years, but this guy said he could do it in 7 months. Only 14 mountains in world are taller than 8,000 meters (more than 26,200 feet) and he has now climbed all 14. He summitted to the peak of Mt. Everest, came down, partied for 2 days and then climbed the 4th and 5th highest mountains in world which are in Nepal and did that in 5 days, which gave him the idea he could complete all 14 in 7 months. A fascinating and remarkable story.

As a “record” goes, this one is just as silly as some random guy putting up a 10 foot x 10 foot steel target at 5000 meters and proclaiming himself the new world-record holder when it hits it on his 73rd shot.

The only one that counted was the first one, when Reinhold Messner bagged the 14th peak in 1986. And for two reasons.

#1, over time, mountains get easier to climb. Gear gets better, guides get better, knowledge of the routes gets better, knowledge of human physiology gets better, and rescue operations gets better (which means you can afford to take bigger risks). In 1975, a team of Chinese climbers put up AN ALUMINUM STEPLADDER on Mt Everest on a feature known as The Second Step. And nobody took it down, except once, but that was to replace it with a newer ladder!!! And now everybody uses the aluminum stepladder, like it was a natural feature. Or just another fixed rope.

Hillary didn’t use a stepladder.

Tourists climb Mount Everest now. Great-grandmothers have summited Everest. So hame men in their 80s. Because it has gotten easier to climb mountains.

#2, there’s nothing inherently special about the 14 8000 meter peaks. They’re not necessarily the hardest mountains to climb. There’s nothing to distinguish Gasherbrum IIIthem so next year the same random dude who clanged the steel gong at 5000 meters could set out to climb them all and add Gyachung Kang to the list, then claim a new world record for being the first to climb the FIFTEEN highest peaks.

And then the following year some other random dude does the 15 plus Gasherbrum III, and that makes him the new world record holder for the highest SIXTEEN peaks.

But it will make the press because the press can’t tell silly from Reinhold Messner.

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