Advertisement
Nepali mountaineer breaks record for climbing world’s 14 highest peaks in seven months
- Nirmal Purja took a picture of a traffic jam on Mount Everest in May, which went viral and led to new climbing rules on the world’s highest mountain
- The 36-year-old former Gurkha beat an eight-year record for summiting the world’s highest peaks
Reading Time:2 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
0
A Nepali mountaineer on Tuesday smashed the record for summiting the world’s 14 highest peaks, racing up all “8000ers” in just seven months, according to a post on his social media accounts.
Nirmal Purja completed the climb of the 14 mountains, all over 8,000 metres (26,250 feet) in seven months, the post said. The previous record was almost eight years.
“MISSION ACHIEVED! says @nimsdai from the summit of #Shishapangma,” read the post on Purja’s Facebook page, referring to the final peak in China.
Polish climber Jerzy Kukuczka completed the same feat after seven years, 11 months and 14 days in 1987 after Italy’s legendary Reinhold Messner became the first to scale the 14 peaks a year earlier.
South Korean Kim Chang-ho completed the challenge one month slower than Kukuczka – although unlike Kukuczka, who died in a climbing accident in 1989, he never used supplementary oxygen.
Advertisement