Nims Purja on climbing mountains, never giving up and the power of nature

Virgin Radio

16 Nov 2020, 15:58

We all have a dream or ambition, and the champion of smashing his goals and achieving unbelievable feats is Nims Purja.

Proving there ain't no mountain high enough, Nims has written a book called ‘Beyond Possible: One Soldier, Fourteen Peaks ― My Life In The Death Zone’ and it's out now.

It tells his incredible life story. There are 14 mountains in the world higher than 8,000 metres, and Nims climbed them all in under 7 months - beating the previous record of 8 years.

Nims shares his account of life navigating these “death zones”, and how his time in the Gurkhas and Special Boat Service prepared him for what he called Project Possible.

He joined the Chris Evans Breakfast Show with Sky this morning to talk about how he did it.

Chris asked Nims if he had any advice for when it comes to not giving up. 

"What you have to sometimes imagine is that everything in life, if you want to achieve anything bigger or greater, it's never given," says Nims. "You have to work for it. Creating a success, I don't know who said it, but pain is temporary, it doesn't matter how painful it is, it always lasts for a certain time."

He continues: "Giving up, that will last in your chest forever, you know, you will always wish you'd given 100% So, a lesson for everybody else is give 100% to now."

Chris asked if he had any physical conditions as a result of his climbing. Nims laughed: "No man, I've been living in such a pure environment I think I'm just getting younger, brother!"

Climbing one of these mountains would be a feat, let alone all of them, and Nims says there are lessons to be learned from nature: "The positive from all these things is you always stay humble. Nature has bigger power, it's always superior than you, never be that arrogant guy."

"We are no one in front of these mountains. It could be the big surfing wave, it could be anything else, nature always has things to say."

If you're ever in need of a motivational pep talk, Nims is the man to ask: "Never let anyone tell you, things are impossible.  Even some of the closest mentors, teachers, people you respect, sometimes when your mission is so high, you are so ambitious, they will say you can't do it."

He insists: "The bottom line is no one knows you more than yourself, only you as a person know yourself. So just believe in yourself, you know, and then commit to it, whatever you want to do, give 100% to now, and always have a positive mindset."