Beyond Possible: One Man, Fourteen Peaks, and the Mountaineering Achievement of a Lifetime

by Nims Purja

Overview

Nepali climber Nims Purja is the first man ever to summit all fourteen of the world’s 8000 meter “Death Zone” peaks in less than seven months. His breakthrough timing beat the previous record of seven years.

In this spellbinding memoir, tied to the acclaimed Netflix documentary "14 Peaks," Purja reveals the man behind the climbs, explaining how his early life in Nepal and training as a soldier in Britain’s elite Gurkha and SBS units allowed him to achieve a mountaineering mission few thought was attainable. Purja shows how leadership, integrity, and collaboration drive world's greatest climbing feats, including the first-ever winter ascent of Pakistan’s K2—another mountaineering milestone that he achieved in January 2021.

Both profound and inspiring, this intimate book reveals what it takes to go miles beyond the possible.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781426222535
Publisher:	Disney Publishing Group
Publication date:	01/04/2022
Pages:	320
Sales rank:	161,573
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.70(h) x 1.30(d)

About the Author

Celebrated Nepali climber Nims Purja holds multiple mountaineering world records. After serving with the British Armed Forces as a Nepalese Gurkha and as a soldier in the Special Boat Service (SBS), an elite special forces unit of the Royal Navy, he took on a series of mountaineering challenges, including climbing all 14 of the world’s mountain peaks above 8,000 meters in just over six months, reaching the summits of Mount Everest, Lhotse, and Makalu in 48 hours and completing the first-ever winter ascent of Pakistan’s K2. He lives with his wife, Suchi, in Hampshire, England.

Table of Contents

Contents
1 Death or Glory2 Hope Is God3 Better to Die Than to Be a Coward4 The Unrelenting Pursuit of Excellence5 Into the Death Zone6 Swimming to the Moon7 The Mission8 The Highest Stakes9 Respect Is Earned…10 The Normality of the Extreme11 Rescue!12 Into the Dark13 In Times of Chaos14 Summit Fever15 The Politics of a Mountain16 Quitting’s Not in the Blood17 Through the Storm18 The Savage Mountain19 A Mountain Mind20 The People’s Project21 Epic Afterword

Editorial Reviews

★ 10/25/2021

Nepalese climber Purja debuts with a propulsive account of successfully climbing the “Earth’s fourteen Death Zone peaks” in record-breaking time. In 2018, after years of serving as a Gurkha soldier in the British military, he embarked on a “wild effort” to reach the pinnacles of the world’s 14 tallest mountains in fewer than seven months, an attempt that would “shatter” the previous world record of seven years. With the summits of each rising above 8,000 meters, Purja writes, “the air is so lacking in oxygen that human bodies and brains wither and fail.” His exhilarating narrative captures the physical and mental toll he experienced while careening down the sides of mountains and ascending lethally steep slopes in “brutal, whiteout conditions.” In addition to recounting topping Everest in Nepal and K2 in Pakistan, Purja writes memorably about his time in the Nepalese regiment of the British Armed Forces, reflecting fondly on a career that both sharpened his skills as a climber—giving him “access to a variety of highly specialized courses”—and deepened the pride he felt around his culture, an aspect of mountaineering that has often gone overlooked. This is a fascinating and inspiring look at a life lived on the edge. (Jan.)

Publishers Weekly