Famed Mountaineer Nimsdai Purja has set a new record as the fastest climber to scale all 14 peaks above 8,000 meters without using supplemental oxygen, completing the challenge in just two and a half years.
Purja summited Mt. Shishapangma in Tibet in the early hours of Friday, according to Dawa Futi Sherpa, operations manager of Imagine Nepal.
Sherpa, the sister of renowned climber Mingma G, confirmed that both her brother and Purja safely descended to base camp by Saturday. “Both Mingma brother and Nimsdai summited the peak together and reached base camp yesterday,” she told Everest Chronicle.
The duo have become the first Nepali climbers to achieve the feat. Purja and Mingma G had also achieved a historic feat of summiting K2 together in winter 2021.
Earlier, Imagine Nepal had posted about the summit of its expedition to summit the world’s 14th highest peak. The team led by Mingma G reached the summit at around 4:15 p.m. local time on Friday. The Elite Exped did not mention the successful summit of Purja’s team.
On Saturday, Purja posted a cryptic message on his social media, suggesting that he and Mingma G were still preparing for the ascent.
This latest accomplishment adds to Purja’s growing list of world records, many recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records. He previously set milestones for the fastest climbs of several high-altitude peaks, including scaling Everest and Lhotse in just over six hours using bottled oxygen.
In 2019, Purja set the record for the fastest ascent of the 8,000ers with bottled oxygen that transformed the approach to big mountain climbing. Climbers started climbing multiple 8,000er in a single climbing season.
While some of his records have since been surpassed by Norwegian climber Kristin Harila and her Nepali guide Tenjen Sherpa, Purja keeps making new records in the big mountains.
In 2023, climbers Kristin and Tenjen made history by summiting all 14 peaks above 8,000 meters in mere 92 days, becoming the world’s fastest climbers to achieve this feat. On October 7, Tenjen was caught in a deadly avalanche on Shishapangma. He went missing along with his client an American climber Gina Marie Rzucidlo.
