The Red Bulletin December 2020 (UK)

In 2017, the Gurkhas undertook
an expedition to summit Everest.
For the elite brigade of Nepali-
Indian soldiers it was a pilgrimage
of great significance – a
celebration of 200 years of
allegiance to the British Crown, and
their second attempt at the world’s
highest mountain after their 2015
mission was aborted when the
fateful Gorkha Earthquake
triggered an avalanche that wiped
out base camp and stranded most
of the climbers at Camp One. Now,
this expedition was also in
jeopardy. Unpredictable weather
meant the official rope-fixing team
had yet to fix a route to the summit
that year. No one could ascend.
“I was like, wow,” says Nirmal ‘Nims’
Purja – at the time a 35-year-old member
of the Gurkha climbing unit. “Everyone
thinks, as a Gurkha, you are not only the
bravest of the brave, but that Everest is in
your back garden. Our reputation was at
risk. But secondly, when were we ever
going to get another chance to climb
Everest using British taxpayers’ money?
I decided to lead the fixing team.”
When word spread around camp
about his plan, there was one reaction:
“‘Does he have a clue what he’s doing?’
Nobody knew who I was,” recalls Purja.
“So I led 13 members of the expedition
to summit – the first team to make it
from the southern side that year. We
came back down into Kathmandu and
celebrated with a week of partying.
“Then I climbed Everest again, then
Lhotse and Makalu [the world’s fourth and
fifth highest mountains], all in five days,
with two days of partying in between.”
These days, people know who Purja
is. In 2019, he scaled all 14 ‘eightthousanders’
– the official designation
for mountains that exceed 8,000m in
height – in the fastest time he could. The
record stood at seven years, 10 months
and six days; Purja planned to do it
within seven months. He achieved it in
six months and six days. It propelled the
Special Forces soldier (the first Gurkha
to ever be accepted into the UK Special
Boat Service) into the mainstream
spotlight. It also brought criticism from
alpine purists, in particular for his use
of supplemental oxygen.
“I only do that on the final peak.
I climb, setting a fixed line, everything
without oxygen up to Camp Four,” he
retorts. “People were saying, ‘Oh, Nims
34 THE RED BULLETIN