Though thousands of adventurers have climbed up Mount Everest, the highest and most famous of the world's 14 tallest mountains, only 40 climbers have conquered them all. Nepalese mountaineer Purja became one of them after he reached the 8028-meter peak of China's Mt. Shishapangma on October 29, 2019. Purja made the extraordinary achievement in just six months and six days, much faster than late South Korean climber Kim Chang-ho's 2013 record of seven years, ten months, and six days.
“I am incredibly excited and proud to have reached this final peak and achieved my goal of climbing the world's 14 tallest mountains in record time,” Purja said. “It was extremely hard during the six months, and I hope to have proven that anything is possible with some determination, self-belief, and positivity.”
Purja's “Project Possible” started becoming a reality on April 23, 2019, when he successfully peaked Nepal's 8091 meters tall Mt. Annapurna. The climber then rapidly completed the next five mountains, including Mt. Everest, within only four weeks! Five more peaks were conquered in July and the last three during September and October.
The adventurer, who was joined by teams of Nepalese climbers on each of his adventures, encountered many memorable and critical moments. On April 23, 2019, while going down Mt. Annapurna, Purja and his team heard about a Malaysian climber who had been separated from his group with no food, water, or oxygen for over 40 hours. They managed to find him and got him airlifted to a hospital. On May 15, 2019, Purja's team similarly helped three trapped climbers on Mt. Kanchenjunga by giving them oxygen.
Purja said his primary purpose for undertaking this enormous task was to show the world that anyone can attain greatness if they put their minds to it. “By achieving this goal, I knew I could inspire people from all generations across the world,” he said.
