1. Nirmal Purja is a Nepal-born naturalised British mountaineer.
24 Facts About Nirmal Purja
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Nirmal Purja was the first person to reach the summits of Mount Everest, Lhotse and Makalu within 48 hours.
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Nirmal Purja was born in July 1983 in Dana, a small village in Nepal's Myagdi District near Dhaulagiri, at 1,600 m above sea level.
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Nirmal Purja's father was a Gurkha soldier and his mother was from a farming background.
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Nirmal Purja told National Geographic, "We came from a really poor family", and "As a kid, I remember I didn't even have flip-flops".
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Nirmal Purja later attended Loughborough University, where he received a postgraduate diploma in security management.
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Nirmal Purja joined the Brigade of Gurkhas in 2003, and was accepted into the Royal Navy's Special Boat Service in 2009, becoming the first Gurkha to join the elite British unit.
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Nirmal Purja served in the Special Boat Service as a cold-weather warfare specialist.
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Ministry of Defence regulations prohibit Nirmal Purja from discussing his activities with the SBS, however he said that he was involved in all theatres of war that Britain was involved in, and he was wounded after taking a sniper bullet that missed his neck by striking the butt of the stock of his rifle.
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At the time, Nirmal Purja had become an important contributor to his family while serving in the military, and was passing up his army pension.
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Nirmal Purja made his first major Himalayan climb in 2012, reaching the summit of Lobuche East with no previous experience as a mountaineer.
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On 13 May 2016, Nirmal Purja summited Mount Everest, his second eight-thousander.
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On 15 May 2017, Nirmal Purja led the Gurkha Expedition "G200E", which summited Everest together with 13 Gurkhas to commemorate 200 years of Gurkha service in the British Army.
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Nirmal Purja has climbed Mount Everest six times: the third time 27 May 2017, the fourth time 22 May 2019, the fifth time 31 May 2021 and the sixth time 15 May 2022.
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Nirmal Purja broke his previous Guinness World Record by climbing Mount Everest, Lhotse, and Makalu within 2 days and 30 minutes.
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Nirmal Purja completed the second phase in July 2019, climbing Nanga Parbat, Gasherbrum I, Gasherbrum II, K2 and Broad Peak, all in Pakistan.
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Nirmal Purja's team consisting of Mingma David Sherpa, Mingma Tenzi Sherpa, Geljen Sherpa, Pem Chiri Sherpa, Dawa Temba Sherpa and himself, joined by the team of Mingma Gyalje Sherpa, Dawa Tenjin Sherpa and Kilu Pemba Sherpa, and Sona Sherpa from Seven Summits Treks successfully ascended K2 at 16:58 local time in Pakistan.
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Nirmal Purja was the only team member to reach the summit without using supplemental oxygen, becoming the first person to do so in winter.
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In May 2022, Nirmal Purja set a new speed record for ascending Kangchenjunga, Mount Everest, and Lhotse consecutively without oxygen, with a time of 8 days 23 hours, and 10 minutes.
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On 4 October 2024, Nirmal Purja broke two world records after summiting Shishapangma: the fastest time to summit all 14 peaks with no supplementary oxygen ; and, the fastest to summit all 14 peaks both with and without supplementary oxygen.
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On 21 October 2024, Nirmal Purja broke yet another record by becoming the first person to summit the 14 peaks and the Seven Summits both with and without supplementary oxygen.
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However, they noted that Nirmal Purja had corrected this in autumn 2021 when he went to the true summits of both mountains.
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Nirmal Purja is married to Suchi Purja, and they live in Hampshire.
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Dr April Leonardo, a family physician from Quincy, California, says Nirmal Purja repeatedly grabbed, kissed, and propositioned her during an expedition to K2 in June 2022.