The Nepalese climber Nirmal, called “Nims” Purja has filled the dozen. The 36-year-old former soldier of the British Gurkha Regiment scaled today – along with seven other mountaineers – the 8,188-meter-high Cho Oyu in Tibet, the sixth highest mountain on earth. It was the first eight-thousander success in this fall season. Since the end of April, Nims has climbed twelve of the 14 eight-thousanders and is approaching the goal of successfully completing his “Project Possible” – all eight-thousanders in seven months.
Now quickly to Manaslu
“Now time to rush down to base camp, cross the border (to Nepal) and be at Manaslu Base Camp by 24 September,” Purja wrote on Twitter. Nims had planned to scale Cho Oyu and Manaslu by the end of the month. On Manaslu today a Sherpa team of the Nepalese expedition operator Seven Summit Treks wanted to fix the ropes up to the summit.
Still question marks behind Shishapangma
Should Nims also scale Manaslu – considering the determination and achievements of the “unstoppable” in the past months hardly anyone doubts it – he would only be missing Shishapangma. There is still the threat of a premature bureaucratic end to Purja’s project. The Chinese-Tibetan authorities have actually closed Shishapangma for this fall.
“Hoping that the Chinese government would allow me a special permit on Shishapangma this year so that the mission would be complete,” Nirmal Purja wrote on Twitter week ago.
