Beyond Possible: One Man, 14 Peaks, and the Mountaineering Achievement of a Lifetime

by Nimsdai Purja

Join Nepalese climber Nimsdai Purja as he recounts his journey to scale all 8,000 meter “Death Zone” mountains in seven months.

In this action-packed memoir, young readers will not only learn how Purja physically accomplished this incredible feat, but also how his attitude, leadership skills, and willingness to learn from mistakes took him to the top. From his childhood growing up in Nepal, to a career as an elite soldier in the British army, Purja shows how his early life shaped him and enabled him to go beyond what people though was possible.

Genres: Mountaineering, Adventure, Memoir

168 pages, Hardcover

First published January 4, 2022

About the author

Nirmal Purja (known as Nims or Nimsdai) MBE (Nepali: निर्मल पुर्जा) is a Nepal-born naturalised British mountaineer and a holder of multiple mountaineering world records. Prior to taking on a career in mountaineering, he served in the British Army with the Brigade of Gurkhas followed by the Special Boat Service (SBS), the special forces unit of the Royal Navy. Purja is notable for having climbed all 14 eight-thousanders (mountain peaks above 8,000 metres or 26,000 feet) in a record time of six months and six days with the aid of bottled oxygen. This was a record at the time of climbing, although it was broken in 2023 by Kristin Harila and Tenjen Sherpa, who summitted all 14 eight-thousanders in 92 days. 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, completed the first-ever winter ascent of K2. Purja was the only team member to summit without the use of supplemental oxygen, becoming the first person to do so in winter.

Source: wikipedia
Photo: Iamthanes, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Reviews

[Marcia · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book chronicles the author's attempts at submitting the world's highest and most dangerous peaks. I always love a good mountaineering story and admire the perseverance required to accomplish those climbs. This story moves at break-neck speed, highlighting Purja's goal fo setting a record for conquering the peaks. To summit Everest, Lhotse, and Makalu back to back in a world record 48 hours is...crazy, and extremely dangerous. Purja is an elite climber and a highly trained soldier, so the way he handled the extreme conditions and life and death scenarios was not typical. There are many rescues, some deaths along the way. While I applaud the author for this incredible feat and his tenacity, in the end, it all felt way too dangerous. Pushing on to achieve a goal when all signs point to the incredible danger to life and limb -- a mission to bring attention to the environmental impacts of mountaineering on these peaks while traipsing rapidly through them left me unsettled.

[Tom · Rating 3 out of 5]

Looking forward to recommending this to a bunch of middle schoolers next week. Nims’s story is a remarkable achievement, and I like how it focused more on leadership, perseverance, and integrity than on the mountain climbing experience itself. He spends pages talking about a rescue, or helping other teams navigate safely, or keeping up morale in base camp, and the summit of K2 basically got one sentence. It’s clear from this account that he has a very high risk tolerance, and I wish it had addressed what that means and the emotions surrounding it a bit more. For all of the talk about perseverance and working toward your goals, there’s not enough talk about handling failure or disappointment, or acknowledging fear and vulnerability.

[Ash Muthukumaran · Rating 5 out of 5]

Watched 14 Peaks on Netflix and was immediately curious to know how Nims achieved this near impossible feat. So glad I did.. this is such an inspiring read. Nims’ physical and mental strength are commendable. I loved hearing his story about his ascend in the army and later the mountains. Some of the climb stories deserve a seperate book by themselves.

[Thequaminator · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting story. Good adventures. Nims seems to have amazing, other worldly stamina, so much so that although meant to encourage others to also follow their dreams, he is too super human to relate to.

The list of 8 lessons from the death zone were very well written and every young person should read them. The rest of the book provides context for them. The story is very tersely told (probably because it is a young readers edition). I still think every person could benefit by reading it.

1) leadership isn't always about what you want
2) the little things count the most on big mountains
3) never underestimate the challenge ahead
4) hard work is everything
5) a person's true nature shows up in life or death situations
6) turn a nightmare situation into something positive
7) give 100% to the present
8) never lie. Never make excuses

[Ms. Yingling · Rating 3 out of 5]

Copy provided by Young Adult Books Central

Born in Nepal in 1983, Purja's earliest goal was to serve in the British Army with the Brigade of Gurkhas like his father. His father's salary in the service caused the family to struggle a bit, but with the help of his older brothers, he attended a boarding school, and was able to join the Gurkhas in 2003. Eventually, he joined the elite Special Boat Service, which no Gurkha had ever joined. It was tough work, and he was not always treated well by his fellow soliders because of his ethnicity. He was able to take advantage of specialized training, and took a number of climbing courses. This lead to a strong desire to climb Everest, but there were challenges along the way. Even though his first climb had some problems, he was very interested in pursuing this activity, and eventually got on a G200E team trying the climb in 2017. After resigning from the military, he started investigating how he could manage to climb more impressive mountains. This isn't a cheap endeavor, but he undertook efforts to fund Project Possible, as he named his plans. He took money out of equity in his house, and slowly his expeditions gained more attention. He used his adventures to bring attention to climate change, and has so far climbed fourteen of the highest mountains in the world.

Future adventurers who have read Olson's nonfiction title Into the Clouds: The Race to Climb the World's Most Dangerous Mountain or the fictional Peak (Smith) or Everest (Korman) series, Beyond Possible offers a fascinating look at what it takes to climb these imposing peaks right now. For me, reading about these climbs is a much better way to experience them than to plan a trip myself, but young readers hungry for adventure will look at Purja's experiences and envision themselves in his hiking boots. His story is inspirational and harrowing all at once.

My area is home to a fair number of Nepalese immigrants, and I've struggled to find books to represent them. There is some information about his time in Nepal, and what life was like there, and I would have gladly had a few more chapters about that. It will be great to have this book to hand to readers who can see that someone from a similar background can go on to achieve great things.

The book has lots of action and adventure, and all of the horrifying details about the many, many things that can go wrong on a high peak. I appreciated that there was a discussion of how expensive these operations are, and how many sacrifices Purja and his family made in order for him to have these experiences. If any young readers ever do try similar expeditions, hopefully they will proceed with great caution and preparation.

There are some greatcolor pictures in the center of the book, a "Lessons from the Death Zone" discussion of life philosophy Purja has taken away from his climbs, and a page of Purja's world records. This is a shorter book (just over 150 pages) that I can see being popular with readers who like nonfiction tales about war or adventures. It reminded me a bit of Banner in the Sky, which was written in 1954 but set in 1856, and just goes to show that reading about harrowing experiences has a long (and chilly!) tradition.

[Jessica Higgins · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great biography for overcoming obstacles in your path set at the highest of altitudes!

Nimsdai Purja has set goals all his life to achieve. Growing up in Nepal, he wanted to be a Gurkha soldier, just like his father. Through perseverance, he was able to achieve this goal. Then he wanted to be more than just a soldier, but an elite warrior, so he set his sights on becoming a member of the Secret Boat Service (SBS) for the British military during the war on terror. During his years of service, he was given the chance to climb Mount Everest and he was bit by the climbing bug, to say the least. Wanting to do what everyone thought impossible, Nims developed Project Possible, a mission to climb the fourteen highest mountains in the world in only seven months, which is seven years faster than the world record. What Nims learned about himself and fellow climbers throughout this mission is shared for readers to discover that they too can conquer the impossible.

Young readers who love action and adventure will love this autobiography of Nimsdai Purja with his pursuit to climb all fourteen death zone mountains. The first half of the book is geared towards his life up to the point he decides to make the lifestyle transition necessary to climb all fourteen peaks. The second half is dedicated to a chapter-by-chapter description of each mountain and what occurred while he and his team were climbing. They had to overcome several obstacles on the way up and the way down. Just because you have achieved something doesn’t mean you won’t face something on you journey back! There is quite a bit of climbing lingo, but with enough context clues, readers will be able to understand what is going on. Very exciting book for young readers!

I received a complimentary copy of this title from the publisher. The views and opinions expressed within are my own.

[Andrew Sternisha · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 rounded to 5. This book was so much better than the film. The author comes across as a bit arrogant and pretentious at times, but he has the skill to back most of it up. My main criticism of the book is that I couldn't feel the mountains in the way that Krakauer does so well in Into Thin Air. I did enjoy the life lessons that Purja learned from the mountains and lists at the end of the book.
-Leadership isn't always about what you want. Purja listened to his team and that allowed him to be successful in this endeavor. Too many leaders forget this.
-The little things count most on the big mountains. Same applies to life. Taking care of details can make the bigger goals a reality.
-Never underestimate the challenge ahead. Always treat challenges with respect no matter how easy it may seem before you start.
-Hope is god. He talks about taking action rather than fantasizing in this one, but also believes that you need to set your entire being toward your goal in order to achieve it. I am not sure I entirely agree with this one.
-A person's true nature shows up when the chips are down. Pretty self explanatory.
-Turn a nightmare situation into something positive. He talks about positive thinking here, which as both its merits and its limits.
-Never lie or make excuses. He talks about how if you mess up that you will then continue to mess up, so I don't think this one works as well as he intended. Yes, people often are held back by making up excuses, but thinking that if you did it once that you will never be successful at your goal is not true.

[Karla · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked up Beyond Possible after being blown away by Nims' Netflix doc, "14 Peaks: Nothing Is Impossible". I love the sport of mountaineering, so I was eager to dive deeper into his story.

My library didn’t have the original version, so I settled for this edition without realizing it was written for a younger audience, lol. That made it a quick and easy read, which wasn’t quite what I was looking for–but no biggie. While I appreciated some of the extra details that weren’t in the film, I wanted more in-depth accounts of his time on each mountain.

That said, I can see how this would be a great choice for younger readers. If I were a teacher, I’d recommend it to middle schoolers as an introduction to mountaineering and perseverance. For adult readers, though, I’d suggest picking up the original version.

[Sarah Hammond · Rating 3 out of 5]

Solidly 2.5. He’s quite full of the work he’s done (fair) but sometimes it’s ridiculous. I also can’t not think of the NYT piece on the women he climbed with. One non-family member female is mentioned in this entire book.

[Liam Leary · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was very good

[Brooke || FindingMyFavoriteBook · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had watched “14 Peaks” on Netflix and knew the outcome, but really enjoyed this story and learning more about Nims’ background. If you like a true Everest tale, I highly recommend!!

[Lt · Rating 2 out of 5]

His ambition and hard work is admirable but you have to wonder at what cost and is it worth it?

[Mark Irwin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredible story, very well written in the first person and thrilling all the way through.

[Rosie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very personal account of the quest to smash the record for climbing 8,000m peaks, Purja manages to transport the reader to the climb with him and his team.

[Oliwia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Niesamowity czlowiek