08/03/2026
Nirmal Purja, better known as “Nims,” became world renowned through Project Possible, an ambitious endeavor to climb all 8,000m mountains in just seven months; an adventure that became the Netflix documentary 14 Peaks.
Few people made more of an impact on my life in the past few years than Nims.
I first met Nims as part of an expedition in Argentina. As an inspiring climber, I was eager to learn the skills necessary to eventually fulfill my childhood dream of reaching the summit of Mount Everest. But the lessons learned from Nims extended beyond the mountain.
His strategic planning, attention to detail, and resolve to complete the mission, demonstrated leadership skills that were second to none. And despite his international fame, he always made sure everyone on the team, from the lowest ranking porter to the most experienced climber, were held to the same standards and treated with the same level of respect.
There was also a magic to Nims that helped you find the confidence to believe anything was not just possible, but almost a certainty that could be willed into existence if you wanted it bad enough.
Nims was a larger than life personality that never forgot where he came from. While he certainly took personal pride in his mountaineering records, Nims took even more pride in bringing long-deserved recognition to the Nepalese climbers and Sherpas that were the true mountaineering trailblazers.
For all the records and worldwide notoriety, when you actually knew Nims, you became his friend, his brother.
It wasnt unusual for Nims to randomly call or send a voice memo from the most remote places on Earth just to check in and offer encouragement for whatever you were chasing personally. But that experience wasn’t unique to me, it was something he did for everyone.
On July 29, Nirmal Purja and nine other climbers were tragically killed in an avalanche on Broad Peak in Pakistan.
The people who climbed with Nims and the ones who will climb because of him, will carry on his legacy of making the seemingly impossible, possible. But for now, the world feels a little less possible with Nims gone.
