WEBVTT - Mountaineer Nimsdai Purja on Conquering The Death Zone 0:00:00.280 --> 0:00:03.360 We'd like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land 0:00:03.480 --> 0:00:06.800 on which this podcast was produced, the Galligle people of 0:00:06.880 --> 0:00:10.440 the orination. We pay our respects to elders past and present. 0:00:11.840 --> 0:00:15.200 It's October twenty nineteen and we're at the peak of 0:00:15.320 --> 0:00:20.840 Shishepegma in Tibet, eighty thirteen meters above sea level. 0:00:22.320 --> 0:00:25.000 Nims day Perja is at the summit of the mountain. 0:00:25.920 --> 0:00:29.440 Anything above eight thousand meters is considered to be in 0:00:29.480 --> 0:00:34.120 the death zone, where complacency could kill you. It's an 0:00:34.120 --> 0:00:37.919 extraordinary achievement to make it here. But what makes it 0:00:37.920 --> 0:00:40.920 even more impressive is that Nims has survived the death 0:00:41.000 --> 0:00:46.320 zone on thirteen other mountains. Just forty other climbers have 0:00:46.520 --> 0:00:50.839 conquered this feat and Nims has just made history as the. 0:00:50.960 --> 0:00:55.040 Fastest person to do it. The previous record holder took 0:00:55.160 --> 0:01:01.120 seven years and seven months. Nims has taken just seven months. 0:01:02.280 --> 0:01:05.440 He's rewritten the history books and achieved a further six 0:01:05.480 --> 0:01:10.600 world records in the process. Critics said it couldn't be done, 0:01:11.080 --> 0:01:15.240 but he wanted to show the world that nothing is impossible. 0:01:18.319 --> 0:01:22.800 I'm Att Middleton and this is head game today. Nims 0:01:22.840 --> 0:01:30.520 Day Perja on Expedition Project Possible NIMS. 0:01:30.680 --> 0:01:34.880 We've known each other for almost twenty years now, and. 0:01:34.959 --> 0:01:37.759 I'm so honored to have you on my podcast. 0:01:37.800 --> 0:01:40.280 We've been through a lot in the military, we've been 0:01:40.360 --> 0:01:43.920 through a lot in the mountaineering world, but this podcast 0:01:44.160 --> 0:01:47.080 is about what you've been through and how you've come 0:01:47.120 --> 0:01:50.680 out the other side. First and foremost, Nims, How are you, buddy. 0:01:50.800 --> 0:01:52.680 It's so good to see you and I miss you, bro. 0:01:52.800 --> 0:01:56.200 I miss you well. You're supposed to be here in 0:01:56.440 --> 0:02:00.640 scared diving with us, but hopefully next time. And look, 0:02:00.680 --> 0:02:03.240 brother in a soul, So glad to be here and 0:02:03.000 --> 0:02:05.560 and talking to you. As I said, you know, the 0:02:05.800 --> 0:02:08.680 energy and I get from you know, even the having 0:02:08.720 --> 0:02:11.680 conversation with you is always amazing. So yeah, really really 0:02:11.760 --> 0:02:14.079 nice to be here with your brother. And then thank 0:02:14.120 --> 0:02:16.120 you for having me on your podcast. 0:02:16.680 --> 0:02:17.639 Always a pleasure, brother. 0:02:17.680 --> 0:02:21.200 So names, let's go straight back to the beginning where 0:02:21.200 --> 0:02:23.040 everything started for you. 0:02:23.040 --> 0:02:26.040 You come from Nepal. Where were you born in Nepal? 0:02:26.120 --> 0:02:31.000 And how did you come to becoming a girkha Because 0:02:31.639 --> 0:02:35.760 I know that that's a really sort of elevated job 0:02:35.960 --> 0:02:40.840 or position within the Nipolese community. Was it always in 0:02:40.880 --> 0:02:42.919 your blood and was always bred into you from a 0:02:42.960 --> 0:02:43.600 young age. 0:02:44.040 --> 0:02:48.920 So and I was born in you know, a really 0:02:49.280 --> 0:02:54.160 humbling family. I grew up in the most flattest and 0:02:54.320 --> 0:03:00.480 warmest part of Nepal, in a super warm and joining 0:03:00.520 --> 0:03:04.119 girkha was something, you know, it's I can remember as 0:03:04.200 --> 0:03:08.040 early as you know, as I grew up because my 0:03:08.120 --> 0:03:10.639 dad was in the Indian girkaz and and my two 0:03:10.680 --> 0:03:15.080 brothers had just made into into the Biddish girkhaus. You know, 0:03:15.200 --> 0:03:19.400 for us one, there is a huge legacy, there's a 0:03:19.440 --> 0:03:23.040 huge respect, there is uh this honor you know, being 0:03:23.560 --> 0:03:26.400 a part of the girkhaz in British military. But also 0:03:26.480 --> 0:03:30.120 for me, I was the youngest son in the family, 0:03:31.520 --> 0:03:34.320 and my both brother who had joined the girl cause 0:03:35.120 --> 0:03:38.200 we're married, and and my mom used to kind of 0:03:38.400 --> 0:03:42.120 always say that, look, now your brothers are married, they 0:03:42.480 --> 0:03:44.560 they're gonna go and start their own family. You know, 0:03:45.280 --> 0:03:47.840 you know who's gonna look after the educations and all that, 0:03:47.960 --> 0:03:50.520 and and it kind of, you know, get me really worried. 0:03:50.520 --> 0:03:53.600 And I just wanted to look after my mother and 0:03:53.720 --> 0:03:56.040 kind of escape the poverty. But also there was. 0:03:56.080 --> 0:04:00.240 A a hunger for to be that honorable and out 0:04:00.240 --> 0:04:05.800 of this legendry stuff that you know, Nepal and United 0:04:05.880 --> 0:04:09.520 Kingdom has gone for now almost more than two hundred 0:04:09.560 --> 0:04:10.360 and fifty years. 0:04:10.400 --> 0:04:14.120 So yeah, so it sounds like that you wanted to 0:04:15.000 --> 0:04:17.880 lead the family names. It sounds like, as I know you, 0:04:17.880 --> 0:04:20.159 you're a natural leader, but it sounds like from a 0:04:20.200 --> 0:04:23.120 young age that you had that sort of leadership capability 0:04:23.160 --> 0:04:27.039 within you, from the poverty, from you know, wanting your 0:04:27.080 --> 0:04:31.360 brothers and your family to succeed and wanting to provide 0:04:31.360 --> 0:04:33.800 for them. Was that a big, big sort of push 0:04:33.800 --> 0:04:36.360 for you to go out into the big wide world 0:04:36.680 --> 0:04:40.360 become ultimately a gurkha so you could send money back 0:04:40.560 --> 0:04:41.400 and help the family. 0:04:41.640 --> 0:04:44.640 Yes, And then you know the you know, I still 0:04:44.680 --> 0:04:48.000 remember you know the day out of you know, thirty 0:04:48.040 --> 0:04:52.839 two thousand young men is between eighteen to twenty one. 0:04:52.920 --> 0:04:55.640 You know, they went for the selection and only two 0:04:55.720 --> 0:04:57.800 hundred and thirty mad it and I was one of them. 0:04:57.880 --> 0:05:01.240 And you know your pass and straight away you run 0:05:01.279 --> 0:05:03.640 and deceive your head and everything. But also you know 0:05:04.920 --> 0:05:07.200 there's a part where they give you the money. I 0:05:07.200 --> 0:05:10.400 think the first gast I received was around five hundred 0:05:10.440 --> 0:05:13.800 dollars and you know that that money and I give 0:05:13.839 --> 0:05:16.880 it to mother and I felt really good. But straight 0:05:16.920 --> 0:05:20.520 after that and I was sending money to my family 0:05:20.880 --> 0:05:25.000 straight from my paycheck even when I was in the Gurkhas, 0:05:25.080 --> 0:05:26.600 and as I as soon as I made it to 0:05:27.040 --> 0:05:31.720 special courses, I managed to look them even better. So yeah, 0:05:31.760 --> 0:05:33.839 and I'm a family man, and as you know, and 0:05:34.000 --> 0:05:37.160 family means a lot to me. And how I take 0:05:37.200 --> 0:05:41.960 the families. You know, when we're young, little vulnerable children 0:05:42.040 --> 0:05:45.080 and kids, you know, they give up their happiness. You know, 0:05:45.080 --> 0:05:47.599 they give up their so many things that they could 0:05:47.640 --> 0:05:50.800 have done for our better future. And once we are 0:05:50.839 --> 0:05:53.279 in that position, you know, as they grow old, I 0:05:53.320 --> 0:05:56.920 feel like it's kind of like a I don't know, 0:05:57.040 --> 0:05:59.560 rotation or disciple, you know what I feel like. You know, 0:05:59.560 --> 0:06:03.400 now they're older, they're vulnerable, and you looked after them, 0:06:03.440 --> 0:06:05.680 and it's such a nice thing to do. I guess. 0:06:06.640 --> 0:06:09.799 So that was at the forefront of your personality, which 0:06:10.320 --> 0:06:13.359 I suppose you know, looking after others and leading in 0:06:13.400 --> 0:06:16.080 that way has always been sort of manifested in you. 0:06:16.400 --> 0:06:19.200 But you've done a few selection processes nims. Now take 0:06:19.240 --> 0:06:23.040 me back to the pre selection, you know for the 0:06:23.040 --> 0:06:26.400 gir because you know, like you said, there's thousands of candidates, 0:06:26.720 --> 0:06:29.520 you're one of two hundred odds that pass. Just take 0:06:29.560 --> 0:06:31.719 me through that selection process and what that looks like, 0:06:31.760 --> 0:06:32.640 because it's hard. 0:06:32.920 --> 0:06:37.560 Yeah, yeah, okay, So for those listeners who doesn't know 0:06:37.680 --> 0:06:39.960 what Gurkha is and all that, first of all, I 0:06:39.960 --> 0:06:41.800 think we need to go way back in the history. 0:06:41.880 --> 0:06:45.000 So when the British Empire was in India, you know, 0:06:45.279 --> 0:06:48.640 raising the whole of the empire, nepalans next to India. 0:06:48.760 --> 0:06:52.000 So they tried to take over Nepal, and even though 0:06:52.000 --> 0:06:55.480 they have the huge amount of force that alfeldies and everything, 0:06:56.720 --> 0:07:01.000 they couldn't really you know, be the Netflix saws and 0:07:01.040 --> 0:07:03.200 there's one story where they even blocked the water for 0:07:03.320 --> 0:07:06.520 nine days and the girl has kept fighting. So of 0:07:06.560 --> 0:07:10.040 course at that point the British are very smart and 0:07:10.080 --> 0:07:12.280 of course the King of Nepal had enough with this 0:07:12.400 --> 0:07:17.120 war and everything. So the British has the necklace king saying, look, guys, 0:07:17.120 --> 0:07:20.360 you know we're gonna have We're not gonna attack you anymore, 0:07:20.200 --> 0:07:22.760 We're not gonna have this fight, but can we have 0:07:22.840 --> 0:07:26.320 this you know guys you know, fighting for us, And 0:07:26.480 --> 0:07:28.480 the king was like, yeah, actually it's a great idea, 0:07:28.520 --> 0:07:31.040 you know, because we also don't want any war. And 0:07:31.160 --> 0:07:35.680 you know, so this agreement happened between the United Kingdom, 0:07:36.320 --> 0:07:39.080 India at that point and Nepal three goldment. It's called 0:07:39.120 --> 0:07:42.600 tripactid agreement and since then it's been going on and 0:07:42.680 --> 0:07:45.080 it's only the nature of his kind in the world. 0:07:46.120 --> 0:07:48.520 But yeah, you know, for me going through the selecting process, 0:07:48.520 --> 0:07:52.800 you know, like imagine, you know, you are literally growing 0:07:52.880 --> 0:07:56.680 up in the poverty and you might have this amazing 0:07:56.760 --> 0:08:00.960 opportunity where you're not only respected, but you know, you 0:08:01.080 --> 0:08:04.640 go to United Kingdom. You know, it's it's a dream, 0:08:04.680 --> 0:08:08.040 you know. So that means you know that the competition 0:08:08.160 --> 0:08:11.280 is tough. You know, thirty two thousand people applied at 0:08:11.280 --> 0:08:14.360 my time. And one of the risks we do is, 0:08:14.680 --> 0:08:17.080 you know, we carry like rock of thirty five ks 0:08:17.120 --> 0:08:21.360 in our forehead and you run up you know, four kilometers. 0:08:22.120 --> 0:08:25.400 You know, just because you are physical, effit, that doesn't 0:08:25.440 --> 0:08:27.040 mean you know you'll get through it. You know, you 0:08:27.080 --> 0:08:30.120 also need to be mentally fit. You also need to 0:08:30.160 --> 0:08:33.199 be well educated. You need to pass the English math 0:08:33.240 --> 0:08:37.600 and all that test and the section happens only once 0:08:37.640 --> 0:08:41.240 in a year and if you are below is eighteen, 0:08:41.280 --> 0:08:43.240 you cannot do it. And if you're above it is 0:08:43.320 --> 0:08:45.720 twenty one, you cannot do it either. So you know 0:08:45.760 --> 0:08:47.280 it's a really big thing, you know. 0:08:47.400 --> 0:08:50.640 So yeah, and what was it like passing, you know, 0:08:51.040 --> 0:08:55.320 being told that you're you've passed the pre selection. You're 0:08:55.360 --> 0:08:58.120 now going to the United Kingdom. Obviously you're going to 0:08:58.160 --> 0:09:01.760 be leaving the family going to the United Kingdom to 0:09:01.920 --> 0:09:03.959 become a girker. 0:09:04.440 --> 0:09:07.720 You know, like where you know, you are super excited first, right, 0:09:07.800 --> 0:09:10.200 and you seeing like okay, you know because I see 0:09:10.240 --> 0:09:12.320 all the pictures you know from my brothers, you know, 0:09:12.360 --> 0:09:15.640 all this big bend London eye and you know all 0:09:15.679 --> 0:09:18.800 that I'm expecting. So we've fee a bit of training 0:09:18.880 --> 0:09:22.040 and it's tough. But we were put on the plane 0:09:22.080 --> 0:09:26.040 and we came to London Heathrow and straight away we 0:09:26.120 --> 0:09:28.680 were put into the coast and next time, you know, 0:09:28.720 --> 0:09:30.679 we we wake up. It's like in a cat trick. 0:09:30.760 --> 0:09:33.360 That's you know, worse than even the village of Nepal. 0:09:34.520 --> 0:09:36.520 So I was like what is London? And I were 0:09:36.679 --> 0:09:39.160 big Ben and then the rain is coming from the sideway. 0:09:39.640 --> 0:09:42.160 You see more innocive than more than people, you know, 0:09:42.240 --> 0:09:46.280 so I was like, oh my god, you know, I think. 0:09:47.559 --> 0:09:51.640 Get me back to Nepole, get me mom, I'm coming home. 0:09:53.120 --> 0:09:56.000 I think they specifically choose that in a really remote 0:09:56.040 --> 0:09:58.320 area now for a reason. But yeah, that was that 0:09:58.480 --> 0:10:02.640 was it. And then what I realized is it's not 0:10:02.800 --> 0:10:06.079 only you know the toughness of the training, but the 0:10:06.160 --> 0:10:11.600 key here is how you you know, make relatively a 0:10:11.640 --> 0:10:15.000 young man from Nepal, a village guy or a hillboy, 0:10:15.080 --> 0:10:18.680 whatever you call it, to a refined soldier. You know, 0:10:18.840 --> 0:10:22.000 so you know from really basic of how you use 0:10:22.080 --> 0:10:25.079 your knife, fork and spoon too, how do you use 0:10:25.120 --> 0:10:28.960 the toilet and all that. Yeah, and then from that too, 0:10:29.120 --> 0:10:33.280 you know, being super disciplined, super respectful to everybody around, 0:10:33.920 --> 0:10:35.520 and it's just bilin from there. 0:10:36.080 --> 0:10:40.560 So when you pass out as a Girka, obviously huge pride. 0:10:41.640 --> 0:10:42.520 You know you're there. 0:10:42.640 --> 0:10:45.600 You can not only support yourself, but you can support 0:10:45.640 --> 0:10:48.440 your family. That whole element of being a child what 0:10:48.480 --> 0:10:51.440 you really wanted to do. Did you ever imagine when 0:10:51.440 --> 0:10:53.800 you passed out as a Gurkha that you would find 0:10:53.840 --> 0:10:59.880 yourself on Special Forces selection and being the first ever 0:11:00.520 --> 0:11:06.640 Girkha to pass selection for the Tier one Special Boat Service. 0:11:07.040 --> 0:11:10.480 No begand and I never really imagined that, you know. 0:11:10.600 --> 0:11:13.199 And then to be honest, you know, you know, we 0:11:13.200 --> 0:11:15.240 we are only limited by our knowledge and we didn't 0:11:15.240 --> 0:11:17.280 have you know what you know, being honest, when I 0:11:17.320 --> 0:11:19.880 was in Nepal, I didn't know what you know, UK 0:11:20.000 --> 0:11:22.800 Special Forces. Does you know what SBS is or I 0:11:22.800 --> 0:11:24.880 didn't even know what SAS is and all that. But 0:11:24.920 --> 0:11:28.240 once you joined the military and I found out about them, 0:11:28.240 --> 0:11:30.560 you know, they're actually even even the coolest, you know 0:11:30.679 --> 0:11:33.440 they are, you know, there's so much superior and I thought, 0:11:33.480 --> 0:11:37.240 you know, like we're best. But then yeah, and again 0:11:37.280 --> 0:11:41.320 from that, I think why I wanted to go to 0:11:42.160 --> 0:11:45.439 SBS or in the UK Special Forces in the first places. 0:11:45.480 --> 0:11:48.520 And I think once I served into the Girkas for 0:11:49.120 --> 0:11:52.440 you know, five years, and I realized that, you know, 0:11:52.559 --> 0:11:58.800 Girkas are really tough soldier, well disciplined, the most loyal 0:11:58.800 --> 0:12:01.920 of the loyal, the bravest souldiers in the planet. And 0:12:02.880 --> 0:12:03.880 but no one would. 0:12:03.640 --> 0:12:05.880 Say the elite of the conventional forces. 0:12:05.920 --> 0:12:08.840 They are like the like the powers and Marines that 0:12:08.880 --> 0:12:10.480 they lead conventional forces. 0:12:10.600 --> 0:12:13.520 Yeah, and also like the biggest assets of the characters 0:12:13.600 --> 0:12:15.560 is like because you know, we speak the same language 0:12:15.600 --> 0:12:17.959 and we do everything and it's and there's a huge 0:12:18.000 --> 0:12:21.040 amount of brotherhood. But also like I was like, Okay, 0:12:21.080 --> 0:12:23.280 if we are the best, why why none of us 0:12:23.280 --> 0:12:26.160 are in you know sbs you know or you know 0:12:26.160 --> 0:12:27.920 why we don't have so much in the sas and 0:12:27.920 --> 0:12:31.760 all that. So I think I wanted to break that barrier, 0:12:31.840 --> 0:12:34.880 not only for myself, but but the rest of the guys, 0:12:34.920 --> 0:12:38.480 you know who I always believe, you know, it doesn't 0:12:38.520 --> 0:12:41.120 matter who you are. You know, there will always be 0:12:41.200 --> 0:12:45.959 someone who is smarter, someone is stronger, someone in a 0:12:46.080 --> 0:12:48.319 talented than you. But sometimes you just have to open 0:12:48.360 --> 0:12:52.119 the open the barrier. And many many girl has perhaps 0:12:53.240 --> 0:12:56.240 I don't see that, you know. So, and I also 0:12:56.280 --> 0:12:58.760 wanted to be some at least somebody else, you know, 0:12:59.080 --> 0:13:01.840 representing the that the girl has been in that top 0:13:01.960 --> 0:13:05.640 tier one unit. So and honestly, I had no clue. 0:13:05.720 --> 0:13:07.719 So and all I hear is like, you know, they 0:13:07.720 --> 0:13:10.120 are the pass I shoulders in the planet. They are 0:13:10.160 --> 0:13:12.920 like these they are They're like James all this. So 0:13:13.440 --> 0:13:16.920 I had no clue how the selection's run. So again, guys, 0:13:16.920 --> 0:13:19.240 you know, my training resumes just a puper race, and 0:13:19.280 --> 0:13:21.520 that's like six months before you even even you go 0:13:21.559 --> 0:13:24.560 into selection. So I was like working up one o'clock 0:13:24.600 --> 0:13:28.680 in the morning and you know, big burgen of seventy 0:13:28.720 --> 0:13:30.480 five pounds, and I can't you know, I kind of 0:13:30.720 --> 0:13:33.319 run from home to the to the military barracks in 0:13:33.400 --> 0:13:36.920 Taham from you know, from Maidstone and then you know 0:13:37.160 --> 0:13:39.320 the whole. You know, once you get to the camp, 0:13:39.360 --> 0:13:41.559 you know, you have breakfast, but then you also need 0:13:41.600 --> 0:13:44.920 to do whatever that physical tax of that morning is, 0:13:44.960 --> 0:13:47.160 you know, with with the military. So I do that 0:13:47.160 --> 0:13:50.920 physical you know exercise or PET we call it physical 0:13:50.960 --> 0:13:54.360 training exercise. So and from there, obviously, and that was 0:13:54.400 --> 0:13:57.239 a I was a building and instructural finisher, so plastering 0:13:57.280 --> 0:14:00.600 and tiling whole day. And in the evening, you know, 0:14:00.679 --> 0:14:03.720 four o'clock, I used to run clean Fatti. So clean 0:14:03.760 --> 0:14:05.240 futic is like you know, at this time, I will 0:14:05.280 --> 0:14:07.200 not carry my berg and I leave it there. I 0:14:07.320 --> 0:14:10.959 run back home again twenty kilometer. I have a quick dinner, 0:14:11.160 --> 0:14:14.400 then go to the gym cycle sixty five kilometer. And 0:14:14.760 --> 0:14:16.720 because I wanted to go to SBS, I had to 0:14:16.720 --> 0:14:19.120 be good in swimming, so I used to do like 0:14:19.200 --> 0:14:22.960 front frowl, like one hundred times none stuff in twenty 0:14:22.960 --> 0:14:30.920 five meters swimming pool. And I never you know, honestly, 0:14:30.960 --> 0:14:33.120 I trained like that for six months, six days a week, 0:14:33.120 --> 0:14:35.920 and I never say, okay today there is raining. Today 0:14:35.920 --> 0:14:38.560 there is a black black ice in you know, on 0:14:38.600 --> 0:14:40.160 the road. You know how it is, you know, and 0:14:40.200 --> 0:14:42.560 you know it's the weather in UK is very miserable 0:14:42.560 --> 0:14:44.840 and you can easily sleep, you know. But I never 0:14:44.920 --> 0:14:47.640 make any any excuses at all, because I really wanted 0:14:47.680 --> 0:14:50.920 to do to something, and even from this point, you know, 0:14:50.960 --> 0:14:54.040 the purpose was not only only about me and my desire. 0:14:54.120 --> 0:14:56.560 But and again I keep saying this too many many 0:14:56.560 --> 0:14:59.320 people who have even given interview or talked. I was like, 0:14:59.720 --> 0:15:02.600 if I even passed this, even if I get selected 0:15:02.640 --> 0:15:06.600 by the UK Special Forces Group, that I'm I'm happy 0:15:06.600 --> 0:15:10.240 to work for free, you know. So yeah, and eventually 0:15:10.440 --> 0:15:12.760 you know I pass it. And then of course you 0:15:12.360 --> 0:15:15.200 know you know me from from pull and and and 0:15:15.280 --> 0:15:19.520 also big brother, you know you were so supportive and 0:15:19.600 --> 0:15:21.760 you know for these people who are listening to this podcast, 0:15:22.880 --> 0:15:25.400 you know, when you are the first in a girca 0:15:25.720 --> 0:15:28.240 in the SBS and it's all like pretty much heavily 0:15:28.400 --> 0:15:32.840 dominated by marines and all that, and and it's not easy, right, 0:15:32.960 --> 0:15:35.080 I'm gonna be very honest, but you know, and was 0:15:35.160 --> 0:15:37.880 always there. You know, he's my brother and and and 0:15:38.040 --> 0:15:40.960 the guidance he gave me and all that. So yeah, 0:15:41.080 --> 0:15:43.240 and then big thank you and and since and then 0:15:43.320 --> 0:15:46.080 now and you know, like we have probably got around 0:15:46.120 --> 0:15:51.640 iron the total more than twenty Special Forces in SAS 0:15:51.720 --> 0:15:55.200 and SBS together, So the gate is open now, you know. 0:15:55.360 --> 0:15:57.440 So you know, it's just amazing. 0:16:06.080 --> 0:16:10.560 Talk about breaking the mold and being a trailblazer. So 0:16:10.640 --> 0:16:14.000 you know, you're the first gorkha for to pass selection 0:16:14.040 --> 0:16:17.760 for the Special Boat Service. You have an outstanding career, 0:16:19.000 --> 0:16:23.520 and then you leave because this passion of yours to 0:16:24.880 --> 0:16:29.200 lead the way to trail blaze, to break molds, to 0:16:29.320 --> 0:16:32.200 talk to me about Project Possible, because I. 0:16:32.120 --> 0:16:33.200 Remember it well. 0:16:33.920 --> 0:16:36.280 I remember you leaving the military and everyone's like, why 0:16:36.280 --> 0:16:38.720 are you leaving the military to go and kill yourself? 0:16:38.760 --> 0:16:41.960 This is you know, a suicide mission because you wanted 0:16:41.960 --> 0:16:47.240 to break the record to summit all fourteen peaks above 0:16:47.280 --> 0:16:51.880 eight thousand meters. There's only fourteen peaks above eight thousand meters, 0:16:52.280 --> 0:16:56.480 and you left the military to go and shatter this record. 0:16:56.840 --> 0:17:02.600 Which everyone fought was impossible. You named it project Possible. 0:17:03.120 --> 0:17:06.440 Put me into your mindset that you had in order 0:17:06.520 --> 0:17:11.200 to believe that one you could jump from your dream 0:17:11.280 --> 0:17:14.240 job as a Special Forces operator, Yeah, to then go 0:17:14.280 --> 0:17:16.480 in smashing this unbelievable record. 0:17:17.040 --> 0:17:21.119 Always you know, try to be you know, the be 0:17:21.240 --> 0:17:24.040 the noise of those people you know who are unheard 0:17:24.200 --> 0:17:26.879 or who doesn't have the voice, the servis never had 0:17:27.280 --> 0:17:31.119 the respect and the name that they deserve. That was really, really, 0:17:31.200 --> 0:17:34.760 you know, key, key thing that mattered to me. And 0:17:34.800 --> 0:17:37.359 the second in line with that one was, you know, 0:17:37.400 --> 0:17:40.639 I really believe that through this project I can I 0:17:40.680 --> 0:17:43.160 can show the world that doesn't matter where you come from, 0:17:43.240 --> 0:17:46.080 what your background is. You know, either you grew up 0:17:46.119 --> 0:17:49.000 in a really humbling family without anything else or whatever 0:17:49.080 --> 0:17:51.960 it is in either you can be black, white, brown, 0:17:52.040 --> 0:17:55.280 doesn't matter, you know, you know, if you have a 0:17:55.320 --> 0:17:59.840 bigger purpose than yourself, you can literally do the things 0:18:00.080 --> 0:18:03.280 that the world says it's not possible, you know, And 0:18:03.440 --> 0:18:05.840 just to code this. And at that point, when when 0:18:05.920 --> 0:18:08.439 we went for sponsorship, which we're gonna get a bit 0:18:08.520 --> 0:18:11.439 later on, even the Red Bull said, no names. You know, 0:18:11.480 --> 0:18:13.840 we're not gonna support this because you know, it's like 0:18:13.920 --> 0:18:15.520 you're saying that you're going to swim to the moon, 0:18:16.119 --> 0:18:18.360 you know, so at that point, no one was even 0:18:18.520 --> 0:18:23.080 even imagining it. So yeah, but I really believed it 0:18:23.480 --> 0:18:26.720 in that misin statement, which was not about me at all. 0:18:26.800 --> 0:18:29.719 And because it wasn't about me, it was for the 0:18:29.760 --> 0:18:31.879 whole people whose I believe, it's for the whole of 0:18:31.920 --> 0:18:36.720 the world. You know, that I could change the way 0:18:36.760 --> 0:18:38.840 of thinking, I could change you know, all that stuff, 0:18:38.840 --> 0:18:40.960 so which I believe in, you know, but I think 0:18:41.280 --> 0:18:43.359 you can come with so many ideas and stuff, But 0:18:43.400 --> 0:18:46.479 if you don't believe in that purpose, then that was nothing. 0:18:46.800 --> 0:18:49.440 You know, you can say a few people here and there, 0:18:49.760 --> 0:18:52.600 but because it's not really what you believe in, so 0:18:53.080 --> 0:18:56.760 that can't go that far away. But it's something that 0:18:56.920 --> 0:19:00.439 I believed in from my bone and I don't know 0:19:00.480 --> 0:19:01.600 from is molecules, you know. 0:19:01.680 --> 0:19:03.840 So that's why I love what you said. It was 0:19:03.880 --> 0:19:06.919 bigger than you. The purpose was bigger than yourself. 0:19:07.200 --> 0:19:10.159 And when you've got a purpose like that and the 0:19:10.600 --> 0:19:15.000 positive mindset that you have, you can flip the impossible 0:19:15.200 --> 0:19:16.879 into the possible, can't you. 0:19:16.960 --> 0:19:18.879 Yeah, And it was so tough though, you know, like 0:19:19.160 --> 0:19:21.199 you know now you have already leaved your career in 0:19:21.240 --> 0:19:24.040 this forcess. You have gone big time announcing the project 0:19:24.320 --> 0:19:27.080 no one lives in. You know, you're already now in 0:19:27.119 --> 0:19:29.760 the social media obviously. You know that's that's no way 0:19:29.760 --> 0:19:33.360 going back into SF anymore. You know, the pencil is gone. 0:19:33.720 --> 0:19:36.520 You kind of sold your house to to start off 0:19:36.520 --> 0:19:39.639 in a Foster second mountain, you know. And then and 0:19:39.920 --> 0:19:42.800 I'm really forever thankful to you, and which I'm going 0:19:42.880 --> 0:19:45.200 to bring this on this podcast because you know when 0:19:46.040 --> 0:19:48.239 when I had nothing at that point, you know, I 0:19:48.280 --> 0:19:51.800 still remember, you know, you give me quite decent money 0:19:52.560 --> 0:19:56.240 for me to go and cover actually two mountains, So 0:19:56.359 --> 0:19:58.800 big thank you brother, you know. And it wasn't only 0:19:58.800 --> 0:20:00.679 the money. It's like you know, when you have and 0:20:00.680 --> 0:20:03.239 then you give whatever it is, don't that doesn't mean 0:20:03.280 --> 0:20:05.280 but you know when I needed the must you know 0:20:05.359 --> 0:20:07.960 you were there, so you know once acad big thank 0:20:08.040 --> 0:20:09.199 you and yeah, thank you. 0:20:09.560 --> 0:20:11.520 Do you know what I remember our conversation well when 0:20:11.560 --> 0:20:13.080 you said no and I need to I need to 0:20:13.080 --> 0:20:14.600 get pound, like you don't need to do anything. 0:20:14.640 --> 0:20:16.680 I said, just stick to this part of the deal. 0:20:16.680 --> 0:20:18.479 I just want you to come back alive. 0:20:18.640 --> 0:20:22.360 Yeah, and you certainly done that, nim So I remember 0:20:22.400 --> 0:20:26.280 the first three climbs you smashed out within days. Take 0:20:26.320 --> 0:20:31.240 me back to that mindset of you tackling fourteen of 0:20:31.280 --> 0:20:35.200 the highest mountains in the world, knowing that that record 0:20:35.400 --> 0:20:38.399 was seven years and you wanted to do it in 0:20:38.640 --> 0:20:43.359 seven months. Take me through the first free climbs because 0:20:43.400 --> 0:20:44.440 I couldn't believe. 0:20:44.119 --> 0:20:46.840 How quickly you smashed them. And no wonder the sponsors 0:20:46.840 --> 0:20:47.520 came after that. 0:20:49.560 --> 0:20:52.240 Yeah, I think, you know, And the big thing is yes, 0:20:52.320 --> 0:20:54.119 you know, you know, we managed to smash that and 0:20:54.160 --> 0:20:58.480 all that. We were on the the first mountain and 0:20:59.160 --> 0:21:01.439 is known for they call it, you know, you know, 0:21:01.520 --> 0:21:03.880 it's the most dangerous mountain in the world. In one 0:21:03.920 --> 0:21:06.159 in four people dies, you know, and second in a 0:21:06.240 --> 0:21:09.800 cator is there. And we were on that mountain and 0:21:09.840 --> 0:21:13.800 we've been working so hard and the thing is, yes, 0:21:13.880 --> 0:21:18.520 eventually we summit it. We came from the summit back 0:21:18.520 --> 0:21:21.600 to base camp and we were basically at the base 0:21:21.640 --> 0:21:24.720 camp prepared to go to the second mountain. According to 0:21:24.760 --> 0:21:26.439 the plan, you know, which is the all agree the 0:21:26.480 --> 0:21:29.919 helicopter was supposed to come. But what happened was that 0:21:30.200 --> 0:21:33.000 very morning we were made away like, nimhs, you know, 0:21:33.480 --> 0:21:38.960 doctor Chin is alive above Campo. And when I look 0:21:38.960 --> 0:21:40.879 at the footage of that, you a person who was 0:21:40.880 --> 0:21:45.040 flying the helicopter around and then this poor man was, 0:21:45.200 --> 0:21:49.440 you know, just below the summit, just just waving his hand. 0:21:49.520 --> 0:21:54.320 And what I really thought at that point was, you know, 0:21:54.400 --> 0:21:57.280 if that was me. You know, any tough decision I 0:21:57.359 --> 0:21:59.960 make in my life, I always put myself in the 0:22:00.160 --> 0:22:02.320 person soons, and I was like, if what if that 0:22:02.480 --> 0:22:03.320