Nirmal Purja summits 5th eight-thousander in 12 days, ends 1st phase of â€˜Project Possibleâ€™

Dream Wanderlust | May 24 , 2019

Nirmal Purja, ex-Gurkha soldier, in his ambitious mission – "Project Possible", summited Makalu today morning at 6am, thus completing the Phase 1 of the project. This is his sixth eight-thousander in this session, after Annapurna, Dhaulagiri, Kangchenjunga, Everest and Lhotse. By the latest report of statistics so far, today’s Makalu summit marks his 5th eight-thousander in 12 days since he climbed Dhaulagiri (8167m) on 12th May, alongside Mingma “David” Sherpa, Zekson Son, Geljen Sherpa, and Tensi Kasang. They also stood tall atop the summit of Annapurna-I on 23rd April at 3pm, making the first summit of this spring season. Therefore, upon conquering six eight-thousander summits in one mouth, Nirmal ‘Nims’ Purja is already way ahead of his predicted timeline to finish the 1st phase of ‘Project Possible’. According to the recent statistics, Nirmal climbed 3 eight-thousanders - Everest, Lhotse, and Makalu within 2 days 30 minutes (record achieved on 24th May, 2019), breaking his own previous record of 5 days 3 hours 35 minutes (record achieved on 1st June, 2017).

His Achievements in Spring 2019 (so far)

1. Summited Annapurna on 23rd April, 2019 at 3pm.

2. As a part of the rescue team, Nirmal rescued Malaysian mountaineer Wui Kin Chin, who was stranded on Annapurna during his descent from the summit.

3. Summited Dhaulagiri on 12th May, 2019 at 6:15pm.

4. Summited Kangchenjunga on 15th May, 2019 at 11:19am.

5. As a part of the rescue team, Nirmal tried to rescue Indian climbers Kuntal Karar and Biplab Baidya. But due to lack of proper support from the agency and sufficient supplemental oxygen, he and his team failed to do so. Kuntal and Biplab perished on the mountain on 16th May.

6. Summited Everest and Lhotse on 22nd May, 2019 at 5:30am and 3:45pm.

7. Summited Makalu on 24th May, 2019 at 6am.

His Eight-thousanders Career (before Spring 2019)

1. Summited Dhaulagiri on 18th May, 2014

2. Summited Everest on 13th May, 2016

3. Summited Everest on 15th May, 2017

4. Summited Everest on 27th May, 2017

5. Summited Lhotse on 27th May, 2017

6. Summited Makalu on 1st June, 2017

His Records

1. Guinness World Record: Fastest double-header of the Higher Eight-thousanders - In 2017, 27th May, Nirmal reached from the top of Everest (5:45am*) to the top Lhotse (3:55pm) in 10 hours and 25 minutes, with the aid of supplemental oxygen.

2. Guinness World Record: Fastest triple-header of the Higher Eight-thousanders - In 2017, 27th May, Nirmal summited Everest at 5:45am*, followed by another summit to Lhotse at 3:55pm on the same day. On 1st June, 2017, he summited Makalu at 9:20am. In total, he summited three Eight-thousanders in 5 days 3 hours and 35 minutes, with the aid of supplemental oxygen and the assistance of a helicopter to fly to Makalu Base Camp from Lukla.

3. Nirmal summited Everest twice, Lhotse and Makalu in a single session in 17 days.

14/7 Project Possible Timeline

Phase 1.0 (15th March, 2019 - 1st June, 2019)

Annapurna, Dhaulagiri, Kangchenjunga, Everest, Lhotse and Makalu

Phase 2.0 (1st June, 2019 - 1st August, 2019)

K2, Nanga Parbat, Broad Peak, Gasherbrum I and Gasherbrum II

Phase 3.0 (1st September, 2019 - 1st November, 2019)

Manaslu, Shishapangma and Cho Oyu

* According to Guinness World Record's official website. However, the Himalayan Database denotes the time as 5:35am. However, the Guinness World Record's official website denotes the time as 5:45am, if we take the same from Himalayan Database, the timeperiod of the record becomes 10 hours and 25 minutes. This session, he summited Everest and Lhotse on 22nd May, 2019 at 5:30am and 3:45pm. Hence, the time to reach from the top of Everest to the top Lhotse was 10 hours and 15 minutes in 2019, which was 10 minutes less than that of 2017.

Nirmal Purja on Lhotse [Courtesy: Nirmal Purja Instagram profile]