Nirmal Purja

Nirmal Purja (1983 to 2026), known as Nims or Nimsdai, was a Nepali-British mountaineer who served in the British Army with the Brigade of Gurkhas and later in the Special Boat Service before turning to climbing. Between April and October 2019 he climbed all 14 eight-thousanders, using bottled oxygen, in six months and six days, a record that stood until 2023, and he holds the record for the fastest ascent of all of them without supplementary oxygen. He was the first person to reach the summits of Everest, Lhotse and Makalu within 48 hours, and in 2021 he led a team of ten Nepalese climbers to the first winter ascent of K2. He was born in Dana in the Myagdi District of Nepal and died in July 2026 in an avalanche on Broad Peak in Pakistan.