.jpeg)
14 Peaks: Nothing is Impossible (2021)
Director: Torquil Jones
Every student knows that Edmund Hillary, a Kiwi, was the first man to reach Everest in 1951. And even about the Brit, George Mallory, who died trying to reach the summit in 1924. Almost never does anyone mention the numerous Nepali climbers and helpers who accompanied them and carried their supplies all along the way.
The Sherpas, living in high-altitude regions around Tibet and Nepal, engaged in farming and herding and had genetically adapted themselves to thin air. Long before the British 'discovered' the Himalayas, this range had been their playground. The British found them invaluable as guides and porters for expeditions.
It became quite obvious when Hilary was knighted, whereas Tenzing Norgay, his faithful companion, was not. The reason cited for this was that Nepal was an independent nation and not part of the Commonwealth. So, it was Sir Edmund Hillary, but sorry, no Sir Tenzing Norgay.
Over the years, since mountaineering tourism became popular, Nepalis have dived head-on into this wildly dangerous recreational activity, which humbles an individual at the same time bringing him to the cusp of death.
In front of the forces of Nature, man is nowhere. High-altitude mountaineers are essentially sitting ducks when they stand at the wrong end of an advancing avalanche. There is practically nothing one can do at this wrath of Nature. Man can foresee, plan, and take the chance, but the mighty Mother has the last say, always.
Nirmal Purja, a Nepali-British who served in the Gurkha regiment, was a latecomer to the field of mountaineering. After a revelation, he found a true calling in climbing hills. If the Westerners can conquer the Himalayas with the guidance of Nepalis and take all the credit for it, without even mentioning the guides' names, why not have a Nepali-led expedition instead, he thought. In most TV interviews, the guides are referred to as 'Sherpas', as if they have no name or a proud surname. Purja wanted to make it right and tell the whole world about it.
He wanted to conquer 14 peaks over 8,000 meters high. This height marks the boundary of what is dubbed the death zone, where the air becomes extremely thin, offering only a third of the oxygen available at sea level.
In the 80s, Reinhold Messner was the first person to have climbed all 14 peaks, over 16 years. In 2013, a South Korean, Kim Chang-ho, completed them in over 7 years. So Purja thought his team could put a wager on completing the feat in 7 months.
Making a challenge was the easy part, but financing the whole project was not. Very few saw the living daylight coming of this endeavour, named Project Possible. First, Purja had to remortgage his house in the UK. Slowly, sponsors started trickling in after Project 1 showed some promise.
The project was divided into 3 phases: one involving Nepal and 6 summits, one involving Pakistan with 5, and finally Tibet with 3.
Each phase had its own spills and thrills. When his team climbed Annapurna, they helped rescue a Malaysian climber who had been exposed to the cold for 40 hours with no oxygen or food. Then, over in Kangchenjunga, they resuscitated three stranded climbers who were later diagnosed with high-altitude cerebral edema. Then at Dhaulagiri, they battled bad snow, which almost derailed their mission. They took the risk and reached the summit.
The second phase, over the relatively untested paths of the Karakoram in Pakistan, had its own dramas. Purja fell and was dragged 100m before he managed to catch a rope. Getting a permit to continue his third phase proved problematic, as China refused to grant permission to climb the last eight-thousanders. Diplomatic efforts from the Nepal Government and persuasive emails from the Chinese fan base were helpful.
In between the projects, Porja and his family had to deal with their gravely ill mother back in Nepal. Completing all the 14 peaks was a bittersweet gift to their mother, who was anxiously monitoring her youngest son's progress. Purja completed the whole task in a record time of 6 months and 6 days.
The team's success proved to be a morale booster to all the Nepali and even Pakistani guides. It portrayed them as elite record-setting athletes rather than mere aides. Pakistani mountain touring industry got a short in the arm. K2 and Nanga Parbat are suddenly on everyone's radar.
There must be something about Nature that draws people to return every now and then. In the words of John Muir, a Scottish-born American naturalist, writer, and early advocate for wilderness preservation, who helped start Yosemite and Sequoia National Parks, 'The Mountains are calling, and I must go!" Purja made another attempt to summit the 14 eight-thousanders again. This time, he and his team were to do it without bottled oxygen.
On his second-to-last mountain, Broad Peak, Purja and nine other climbers were trapped by an advancing avalanche and were killed tragically on 30th July 2026.
Farouk Gulsara (asokansham@gmail.com) is a content creator under the Newswav Creator programme, where you get to express yourself, be a citizen journalist, and at the same time monetize your content & reach millions of users on Newswav. Log in to creator.newswav.com and become a Newswav Creator now!
The User Content (as defined on Newswav Terms of Use) above including the views expressed and media (pictures, videos, citations etc) were submitted & posted by the author. Newswav is solely an aggregation platform that hosts the User Content. If you have any questions about the content, copyright or other issues of the work, please contact creator@newswav.com.