A Nepalese mountaineer yesterday smashed the speed record for summiting the world’s 14 highest peaks, racing up all “8000ers” in just six months and six days, organizers said.
The previous record for the 14 mountains above 8,000m — completed by Nirmal Purja at 8:59am — was almost eight years.
“MISSION ACHIEVED! says @nimsdai from the summit of #Shishapangma,” a post on Purja’s Facebook page read, while a statement quoted the former British Gurkha and Special Boat Service soldier as being “overwhelmed and incredibly proud” after his 189-day feat.
Photo: EPA-EFE
“It has been a gruelling, but humbling six months, and I hope to have proven that anything is possible with some determination, self-belief and positivity,” the 36-year-old said.
Starting with Italy’s legendary Reinhold Messner in 1986, about 40 climbers have climbed the Earth’s 14 highest mountains, but none have come close to Purja’s speed.
The late Polish climber Jerzy Kukuczka took seven years, 11 months and 14 days in 1987. South Korean Kim Chang-ho completed the challenge one month faster — although unlike Kukuczka and Purja, he never used supplementary oxygen.
Purja began his “Project Possible” in April.
In the first part of his record attempt, Purja ticked off Annapurna, Dhaulagiri, Kanchenjunga, Everest, Lhotse and Makalu in just one month.
He was not alone on Everest, reaching the summit on May 22 with 320 others and snapping a photo of a traffic jam of climbers on the world’s highest mountain that went viral.
This season a record 885 people climbed the famous mountain. A total of 11 people died, with at least four of those deaths blamed on overcrowding.
A month later, Purja headed to Pakistan for the second part, where he first tackled the notorious Nanga Parbat at 8,125m.
Battling sleep deprivation to meet his target, Purja said he was almost sprinting up and down five of Pakistan’s highest peaks, including Gasherbrum I, Gasherbrum II and K2, the second highest in the world.
Twenty-three days later he was standing atop Broad Peak, his fifth and final mountain of the second phase.
Purja began his final push last month, reaching the tops of Cho Oyu and Manaslu within a week.
When he first told others about his new quest, “everyone was laughing at me,” Purja said in a recent interview in Kathmandu, as he awaited permission from the Chinese government to tackle Shishapangma.
He said then he wanted his feats to inspire the next generation of Nepalese climbers to break his records.
Purja’s record was yet to be verified independently, although he has individual summit certificates from Nepal and Pakistan, and will apply to Guinness World Records for recognition, his expedition organizers said.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique