Nepali mountaineer Nirmal Purja on October 29, 2019 smashed the record for summiting the world’s 14 highest peaks, racing up all “8000ers” in just seven months..
Nirmal Purja completed the climb of the 14 mountains, all over 8,000 metres (26,250 feet) in seven months.
The previous record was almost eight years. Polish climber Jerzy Kukuczka completed the same feat after seven years, 11 months and 14 days in 1987 after Italy’s legendary Reinhold Messner became the first to scale the 14 peaks a year earlier.
South Korean Kim Chang-ho completed the challenge one month slower than Kukuczka — although unlike Kukuczka, who died in a climbing accident in 1989, he never used supplementary oxygen.
In order, the 14 mountains were:
- Annapurna, Nepal, summit reached 23 April
- Dhaulagiri, Nepal, 12 May
- Kanchenjunga, Nepal, 15 May
- Everest, Nepal, 22 May
- Lhotse, Nepal, 22 May
- Makalu, Nepal, 24 May
- Nanga Parbat, Pakistan, 3 July
- Gasherbrum 1, Pakistan, 15 July
- Gasherbrum 2, Pakistan, 18 July
- K2, Pakistan, 24 July
- Broad Peak, Pakistan, 26 July
- Cho Oyu, China, 23 September
- Manaslu, Nepal, 27 September
- Shishapangma, China, 29 October
