Nepali man shatters speed record for scaling the world's tallest mountains 'to show human capacity'
(Nirmal Purja) Nepali man shatters speed record for scaling the world’s tallest mountains ‘to show human capacity’
In May, Nirmal Purja reached the top of Mount Everest. (Nirmal “Nims” Purja/Bremont PR/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images) (Handout/Nirmal 'nims' Purja - Bremont Pr)
https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2019/10/29/nepal-man-shatters-speed-record-scaling-worlds-tallest-mountains-show-human-capacity/
By Cindy Boren at the Washington Post
"SNIP....
The quest was called “Project Possible,” but along the way, Nirmal Purja admitted “I bleed from every angle” and called his attempt to set a speed record for climbing the world’s 14 highest peaks a “horrifically amazing journey.”
Purja, nicknamed “Nims,” wrote those words after successfully summiting his 13th peak last month, and on Tuesday he accomplished his goal, completing the journey to the top of the world 14 times on peaks of at least 26,000 feet in the so-called “death zone” over six months and six days. “MISSION ACHIEVED!” his team tweetedupon reaching the 26,340-foot peak of Mount Shishapangma in China.
Other climbers accomplished the feat in years rather than months. According to Agence France-Presse, Polish climber Jerzy Kukuczka completed the same feat in 1987, after in seven years, 11 months and 14 days, after Italy’s Reinhold Messner became the first to scale the 14 peaks a year earlier. Kim Chang-ho of South Korea beat Kukuczka’s record by a month but used supplementary oxygen, unlike Kukuczka, who died in a climbing accident in 1989. Chang-ho was one of nine climbers who died last October when a snowstorm destroyed the base camp at Mount Gurja in Nepal.
Purja, 36, was described by Mingma Sherpa of Kathmandu’s Seven Summit Treks, which outfitted the expedition, as being safe and in good health. “It is a great achievement for mountaineering and mountaineers and a milestone in the history of climbing,” Ang Tshering, who previously headed the Nepal Mountaineering Association, told the Associated Press.
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