Nirmal Purja

Nirmal "Nims" Purja is a Nepalese mountaineer of Magar descent and a holder of multiple mountaineering world records. Prior to taking on a career in mountaineering, he served with the British Armed Forces as a Nepalese Gurkha, and was a soldier in the Special Boat Service (SBS), an elite special forces unit of the Royal Navy. Purja is notable for having climbed all 14 of Earth's eight-thousanders in a record time of 6 months and 6 days with the aid of bottled oxygen, beating the previous record of just under 8 years. He was also the first to reach the summits of Mount Everest, Lhotse and Makalu in a time period of 48 hours. In 2021, Purja, along with a team of nine other Nepalese mountaineers, successfully completed the first-ever winter ascent of Pakistan's K2.