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Everything you need to know about Nirmal Purja aka Nims Dai

nirmal purja
Photo: @nimsdai/Twitter

If you enjoy scrolling through social media, you may be familiar with Nirmal Purja, sometimes known as Nims Dai, who is a pretty well-known person right now. Since the release of his Netflix-distributed documentary 14 Peaks: Nothing is Impossible, Nims Dai has gained a lot of popularity on social media. The documentary follows his trip as he sets a world record by ascending 14 peaks higher than 8000 meters in under six months and six days. 

Nims Dai is well-known both as a mountaineer and as a former Gurkha soldier from Nepal. You’ve come to the right site if you want to learn more about Nirmal Purja, also known as Nims Dai. Let’s look into his life from his early days, marriage, and military to his mountaineering journey in detail.  

Early Life

Nirmal Purja, who is currently 38 years old, was born in July 1983 at a small village called Dana, which is located at 1,600 meters near Dhaulagiri in the Myagdi district of Nepal. Nim’s parents were estranged from their family as a result of the inter caste marriage, which made it difficult for them to make a living at a small village of Dana.

family of nirmal purja

Nirmal’s family along with his three older brothers then relocated to Chitwan when he was only four years old. Nims was encouraged to join the Gurkha military by his father, a Gurkha soldier, while his mother, a homemaker, cared for her children and the family farm. 

Nirmal Purja was a very curious child and was always very interested in sports, especially in basketball and boxing. Nirmal Purja has completed his higher studies in Diploma in Security and University Management from Louborough University, Loughborough, Leicestershire, England.

Marriage

Nirmal Purja married to Suchi Purja, a dental therapist and director at Mountain Philanthropy Limited in Eastleigh, Hampshire, in 2006.

nirmal purja wife suchi
Photo Credit: https://www.sophiewheelerphotography.co.uk/

Suchi has always been supportive to Nims career choices which can witness in his documentary 14 Peaks: Nothing is Impossible. They are currently residing happily in England. They don’t have any children yet. 

Military Career

Nims Purja realized his boyhood aspiration at the age of 18 by enlisting in the Gurkha army and becoming a soldier like his father. He spent over six years working for the Gurkha.

nims dai millitary

Later, he became an expert in cold-weather warfare for the UK Special Boat Service (SBS). 2018 saw his resignation from the position. Mountaineering captured his attention during his time in the service.

Mountaineering Career

Nims Purja’s #alwaysalittlehigher mentality served as the motivation for several climbs throughout the globe and ultimately his first summit of Everest. Nims Purja completed his first significant Himalayan climb in 2012, climbing to the top of Lobuche East without any prior mountaineering training. Then, in 2014, he climbed Dhaulagiri (8,167 meters) in just 15 days, becoming the first person to do it. 

He conquered Mount Everest, the highest peak in the world, two years later. He along with 13 other Gurkhas climbed Mount Everest once more in 2017. A heroic gesture of solo rescue of an injured climber on the descent high in the death zone made this accomplishment even more admirable. 

nims dai mountaineering career

Nims Purja always decided to ascend with Oxygen from the higher camps at this point in order to make sure he would be at his best to help others. For his exceptional achievements in high altitude mountaineering, Queen Elizabeth II named him a member of the Order of the British Empire in 2018.

Records set by Nirmal Purja

  • Most 8000 m mountains climbed in the Spring season
  • Most 8000 m mountains climbed in the Summer season
  • The fastest summit of the three highest mountains in the world, Everest, K2, and Kanchenjunga
  • The fastest summit of the five highest mountains in the world, Everest, K2, Kanchenjunga, Lhotse, and Makalu
  • The fastest lower 8000ers beating his own previous record of 5 days.

 

14 Peaks: Nothing Is Impossible

On November 26, 2021, Netflix aired the documentary 14 Peaks: Nothing Is Impossible. The movie received 9.5 out of 10 IMDB ratings and is ranked No. 7 on the Netflix Global Top 10 movies list. The documentary is based on 100 hours of video that Nims Dai and his companions filmed between April and October while they attempted to scale the world’s tallest peaks. 

14 peaks nirmal purja

In this movie, Nirmal Purja, aka “Nimsdai,” sets off on a quest to set a new mountaineering record. The video received a total of 12,170,000 hours of viewing time during the seven months that it took Nims Dai to ascend all 14 summits higher than 8,000 meters. In 45 nations, the Netflix top ten list included Torquil Jones’ movie, which peaked at #1 in Slovakia, Slovenia, and Switzerland. 

 

Nirmal Purja – The man behind the viral video

The New York Times featured Nirmal Purja’s snapshot of Mount Everest’s congestion while attempting Project Possible in May 2019 which went viral in social media. The video showcased the traffic jam at Mount Everest which raised global concerns on the safety and permits to ascend Mount Everest. 

Nims Foundation

Nims Purja believes that all youthful talent should be encouraged, regardless of ethnicity, culture, or religion. Jerimot, a 14-year-old climber from Peru who was exposed to the sport by a fellow guide, is proof of this. Jerimot had a remarkable natural gift for climbing but lacked the resources to hone his skills or realize his goals.

Nims therefore felt like the ideal time to help Jerimot and give him the chance to climb and summit this difficult peak. The project was only made feasible with funding obtained from Nims Purja’s foundation. 

Net Worth

Nirmal Purja aka Nims Dai is among the most accomplished mountaineers in the work. He worked with the British army and completed a programme to climb high death peaks.  The sources estimate his net worth at around $5 million.

Social Media Accounts

Due to his membership in the Special Forces, Nirmal Purja was prohibited from using social media. However, he began to appear on social media after leaving the British army and gradually, people learned about him.

Nims Dai has 2 million followers on his Instagram account as of 2022 where he posts updates on his projects and success stories. Similarly, he has 513K followers on his official Facebook page which is names as Nirmal Purja as of 2022. Additionally, he has 124.1K followers on his twitter account as of 2022. Also, Read about sisan baniya

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