K2, Winter: The Final First

by Nimsdai Purja

In this spellbinding memoir, Nimdai Purja tells the story of his latest epic mountaineering achievement: leading the first team to scale K2 in the winter season. Filled with danger and suspense, his story reveals how leadership, a willingness to learn, integrity and collaboration are essential qualities behind the world's greatest climbing feats. The first man ever to summit all fourteen 8000m 'Death Zone' peaks in less than 7 months (the previous record was 7 years) Purja reveals how he was able to go miles beyond the possible.

Paperback

Published September 12, 2024

About the author

Nirmal Purja (known as Nims or Nimsdai) (Nepali: निर्मल पुर्जा) was a Nepalese-British mountaineer. Before beginning a career in mountaineering, he served in the British Army with the Brigade of Gurkhas and later in the Special Boat Service (SBS), the special forces unit of the Royal Navy.

Purja was notable for having climbed all 14 eight-thousanders (peaks above 8,000 metres or 26,000 feet) in six months and six days with the aid of bottled oxygen between April and October 2019. This was a record at the time, although it was broken in 2023 by Kristin Harila and Tenjen Sherpa, who summitted all 14 eight-thousanders in 92 days. Purja was the first person to reach the summits of Mount Everest, Lhotse, and Makalu within 48 hours. In 2021, he and a team of nine other Nepalese climbers completed the first winter ascent of K2. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest mountaineers in history and a pioneer of modern mountaineering.

In July 2026, Purja and nine other climbers died in an avalanche on Pakistan's Broad Peak.

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