Speaker 1: We'd like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land
Speaker 1: on which this podcast was produced, the Galligle people of
Speaker 1: the orination. We pay our respects to elders past and present.
Speaker 2: It's October twenty nineteen and we're at the peak of
Speaker 2: Shishepegma in Tibet, eighty thirteen meters above sea level.
Speaker 3: Nims day Perja is at the summit of the mountain.
Speaker 2: Anything above eight thousand meters is considered to be in
Speaker 2: the death zone, where complacency could kill you. It's an
Speaker 2: extraordinary achievement to make it here. But what makes it
Speaker 2: even more impressive is that Nims has survived the death
Speaker 2: zone on thirteen other mountains. Just forty other climbers have
Speaker 2: conquered this feat and Nims has just made history as the.
Speaker 3: Fastest person to do it. The previous record holder took
Speaker 3: seven years and seven months. Nims has taken just seven months.
Speaker 2: He's rewritten the history books and achieved a further six
Speaker 2: world records in the process. Critics said it couldn't be done,
Speaker 2: but he wanted to show the world that nothing is impossible.
Speaker 3: I'm Att Middleton and this is head game today. Nims
Speaker 3: Day Perja on Expedition Project Possible NIMS.
Speaker 2: We've known each other for almost twenty years now, and.
Speaker 3: I'm so honored to have you on my podcast.
Speaker 2: We've been through a lot in the military, we've been
Speaker 2: through a lot in the mountaineering world, but this podcast
Speaker 2: is about what you've been through and how you've come
Speaker 2: out the other side. First and foremost, Nims, How are you, buddy.
Speaker 2: It's so good to see you and I miss you, bro.
Speaker 4: I miss you well. You're supposed to be here in
Speaker 4: scared diving with us, but hopefully next time. And look,
Speaker 4: brother in a soul, So glad to be here and
Speaker 4: and talking to you. As I said, you know, the
Speaker 4: energy and I get from you know, even the having
Speaker 4: conversation with you is always amazing. So yeah, really really
Speaker 4: nice to be here with your brother. And then thank
Speaker 4: you for having me on your podcast.
Speaker 3: Always a pleasure, brother.
Speaker 2: So names, let's go straight back to the beginning where
Speaker 2: everything started for you.
Speaker 3: You come from Nepal. Where were you born in Nepal?
Speaker 2: And how did you come to becoming a girkha Because
Speaker 2: I know that that's a really sort of elevated job
Speaker 2: or position within the Nipolese community. Was it always in
Speaker 2: your blood and was always bred into you from a
Speaker 2: young age.
Speaker 4: So and I was born in you know, a really
Speaker 4: humbling family. I grew up in the most flattest and
Speaker 4: warmest part of Nepal, in a super warm and joining
Speaker 4: girkha was something, you know, it's I can remember as
Speaker 4: early as you know, as I grew up because my
Speaker 4: dad was in the Indian girkaz and and my two
Speaker 4: brothers had just made into into the Biddish girkhaus. You know,
Speaker 4: for us one, there is a huge legacy, there's a
Speaker 4: huge respect, there is uh this honor you know, being
Speaker 4: a part of the girkhaz in British military. But also
Speaker 4: for me, I was the youngest son in the family,
Speaker 4: and my both brother who had joined the girl cause
Speaker 4: we're married, and and my mom used to kind of
Speaker 4: always say that, look, now your brothers are married, they
Speaker 4: they're gonna go and start their own family. You know,
Speaker 4: you know who's gonna look after the educations and all that,
Speaker 4: and and it kind of, you know, get me really worried.
Speaker 4: And I just wanted to look after my mother and
Speaker 4: kind of escape the poverty. But also there was.
Speaker 5: A a hunger for to be that honorable and out
Speaker 5: of this legendry stuff that you know, Nepal and United
Speaker 5: Kingdom has gone for now almost more than two hundred
Speaker 5: and fifty years.
Speaker 2: So yeah, so it sounds like that you wanted to
Speaker 2: lead the family names. It sounds like, as I know you,
Speaker 2: you're a natural leader, but it sounds like from a
Speaker 2: young age that you had that sort of leadership capability
Speaker 2: within you, from the poverty, from you know, wanting your
Speaker 2: brothers and your family to succeed and wanting to provide
Speaker 2: for them. Was that a big, big sort of push
Speaker 2: for you to go out into the big wide world
Speaker 2: become ultimately a gurkha so you could send money back
Speaker 2: and help the family.
Speaker 4: Yes, And then you know the you know, I still
Speaker 4: remember you know the day out of you know, thirty
Speaker 4: two thousand young men is between eighteen to twenty one.
Speaker 4: You know, they went for the selection and only two
Speaker 4: hundred and thirty mad it and I was one of them.
Speaker 4: And you know your pass and straight away you run
Speaker 4: and deceive your head and everything. But also you know
Speaker 4: there's a part where they give you the money. I
Speaker 4: think the first gast I received was around five hundred
Speaker 4: dollars and you know that that money and I give
Speaker 4: it to mother and I felt really good. But straight
Speaker 4: after that and I was sending money to my family
Speaker 4: straight from my paycheck even when I was in the Gurkhas,
Speaker 4: and as I as soon as I made it to
Speaker 4: special courses, I managed to look them even better. So yeah,
Speaker 4: and I'm a family man, and as you know, and
Speaker 4: family means a lot to me. And how I take
Speaker 4: the families. You know, when we're young, little vulnerable children
Speaker 4: and kids, you know, they give up their happiness. You know,
Speaker 4: they give up their so many things that they could
Speaker 4: have done for our better future. And once we are
Speaker 4: in that position, you know, as they grow old, I
Speaker 4: feel like it's kind of like a I don't know,
Speaker 4: rotation or disciple, you know what I feel like. You know,
Speaker 4: now they're older, they're vulnerable, and you looked after them,
Speaker 4: and it's such a nice thing to do. I guess.
Speaker 2: So that was at the forefront of your personality, which
Speaker 2: I suppose you know, looking after others and leading in
Speaker 2: that way has always been sort of manifested in you.
Speaker 2: But you've done a few selection processes nims. Now take
Speaker 2: me back to the pre selection, you know for the
Speaker 2: gir because you know, like you said, there's thousands of candidates,
Speaker 2: you're one of two hundred odds that pass. Just take
Speaker 2: me through that selection process and what that looks like,
Speaker 2: because it's hard.
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, okay, So for those listeners who doesn't know
Speaker 4: what Gurkha is and all that, first of all, I
Speaker 4: think we need to go way back in the history.
Speaker 4: So when the British Empire was in India, you know,
Speaker 4: raising the whole of the empire, nepalans next to India.
Speaker 4: So they tried to take over Nepal, and even though
Speaker 4: they have the huge amount of force that alfeldies and everything,
Speaker 4: they couldn't really you know, be the Netflix saws and
Speaker 4: there's one story where they even blocked the water for
Speaker 4: nine days and the girl has kept fighting. So of
Speaker 4: course at that point the British are very smart and
Speaker 4: of course the King of Nepal had enough with this
Speaker 4: war and everything. So the British has the necklace king saying, look, guys,
Speaker 4: you know we're gonna have We're not gonna attack you anymore,
Speaker 4: We're not gonna have this fight, but can we have
Speaker 4: this you know guys you know, fighting for us, And
Speaker 4: the king was like, yeah, actually it's a great idea,
Speaker 4: you know, because we also don't want any war. And
Speaker 4: you know, so this agreement happened between the United Kingdom,
Speaker 4: India at that point and Nepal three goldment. It's called
Speaker 4: tripactid agreement and since then it's been going on and
Speaker 4: it's only the nature of his kind in the world.
Speaker 4: But yeah, you know, for me going through the selecting process,
Speaker 4: you know, like imagine, you know, you are literally growing
Speaker 4: up in the poverty and you might have this amazing
Speaker 4: opportunity where you're not only respected, but you know, you
Speaker 4: go to United Kingdom. You know, it's it's a dream,
Speaker 4: you know. So that means you know that the competition
Speaker 4: is tough. You know, thirty two thousand people applied at
Speaker 4: my time. And one of the risks we do is,
Speaker 4: you know, we carry like rock of thirty five ks
Speaker 4: in our forehead and you run up you know, four kilometers.
Speaker 4: You know, just because you are physical, effit, that doesn't
Speaker 4: mean you know you'll get through it. You know, you
Speaker 4: also need to be mentally fit. You also need to
Speaker 4: be well educated. You need to pass the English math
Speaker 4: and all that test and the section happens only once
Speaker 4: in a year and if you are below is eighteen,
Speaker 4: you cannot do it. And if you're above it is
Speaker 4: twenty one, you cannot do it either. So you know
Speaker 4: it's a really big thing, you know.
Speaker 2: So yeah, and what was it like passing, you know,
Speaker 2: being told that you're you've passed the pre selection. You're
Speaker 2: now going to the United Kingdom. Obviously you're going to
Speaker 2: be leaving the family going to the United Kingdom to
Speaker 2: become a girker.
Speaker 4: You know, like where you know, you are super excited first, right,
Speaker 4: and you seeing like okay, you know because I see
Speaker 4: all the pictures you know from my brothers, you know,
Speaker 4: all this big bend London eye and you know all
Speaker 4: that I'm expecting. So we've fee a bit of training
Speaker 4: and it's tough. But we were put on the plane
Speaker 4: and we came to London Heathrow and straight away we
Speaker 4: were put into the coast and next time, you know,
Speaker 4: we we wake up. It's like in a cat trick.
Speaker 4: That's you know, worse than even the village of Nepal.
Speaker 4: So I was like what is London? And I were
Speaker 4: big Ben and then the rain is coming from the sideway.
Speaker 4: You see more innocive than more than people, you know,
Speaker 4: so I was like, oh my god, you know, I think.
Speaker 3: Get me back to Nepole, get me mom, I'm coming home.
Speaker 4: I think they specifically choose that in a really remote
Speaker 4: area now for a reason. But yeah, that was that
Speaker 4: was it. And then what I realized is it's not
Speaker 4: only you know the toughness of the training, but the
Speaker 4: key here is how you you know, make relatively a
Speaker 4: young man from Nepal, a village guy or a hillboy,
Speaker 4: whatever you call it, to a refined soldier. You know,
Speaker 4: so you know from really basic of how you use
Speaker 4: your knife, fork and spoon too, how do you use
Speaker 4: the toilet and all that. Yeah, and then from that too,
Speaker 4: you know, being super disciplined, super respectful to everybody around,
Speaker 4: and it's just bilin from there.
Speaker 2: So when you pass out as a Girka, obviously huge pride.
Speaker 3: You know you're there.
Speaker 2: You can not only support yourself, but you can support
Speaker 2: your family. That whole element of being a child what
Speaker 2: you really wanted to do. Did you ever imagine when
Speaker 2: you passed out as a Gurkha that you would find
Speaker 2: yourself on Special Forces selection and being the first ever
Speaker 2: Girkha to pass selection for the Tier one Special Boat Service.
Speaker 4: No begand and I never really imagined that, you know.
Speaker 4: And then to be honest, you know, you know, we
Speaker 4: we are only limited by our knowledge and we didn't
Speaker 4: have you know what you know, being honest, when I
Speaker 4: was in Nepal, I didn't know what you know, UK
Speaker 4: Special Forces. Does you know what SBS is or I
Speaker 4: didn't even know what SAS is and all that. But
Speaker 4: once you joined the military and I found out about them,
Speaker 4: you know, they're actually even even the coolest, you know
Speaker 4: they are, you know, there's so much superior and I thought,
Speaker 4: you know, like we're best. But then yeah, and again
Speaker 4: from that, I think why I wanted to go to
Speaker 4: SBS or in the UK Special Forces in the first places.
Speaker 4: And I think once I served into the Girkas for
Speaker 4: you know, five years, and I realized that, you know,
Speaker 4: Girkas are really tough soldier, well disciplined, the most loyal
Speaker 4: of the loyal, the bravest souldiers in the planet. And
Speaker 4: but no one would.
Speaker 3: Say the elite of the conventional forces.
Speaker 2: They are like the like the powers and Marines that
Speaker 2: they lead conventional forces.
Speaker 4: Yeah, and also like the biggest assets of the characters
Speaker 4: is like because you know, we speak the same language
Speaker 4: and we do everything and it's and there's a huge
Speaker 4: amount of brotherhood. But also like I was like, Okay,
Speaker 4: if we are the best, why why none of us
Speaker 4: are in you know sbs you know or you know
Speaker 4: why we don't have so much in the sas and
Speaker 4: all that. So I think I wanted to break that barrier,
Speaker 4: not only for myself, but but the rest of the guys,
Speaker 4: you know who I always believe, you know, it doesn't
Speaker 4: matter who you are. You know, there will always be
Speaker 4: someone who is smarter, someone is stronger, someone in a
Speaker 4: talented than you. But sometimes you just have to open
Speaker 4: the open the barrier. And many many girl has perhaps
Speaker 4: I don't see that, you know. So, and I also
Speaker 4: wanted to be some at least somebody else, you know,
Speaker 4: representing the that the girl has been in that top
Speaker 4: tier one unit. So and honestly, I had no clue.
Speaker 4: So and all I hear is like, you know, they
Speaker 4: are the pass I shoulders in the planet. They are
Speaker 4: like these they are They're like James all this. So
Speaker 4: I had no clue how the selection's run. So again, guys,
Speaker 4: you know, my training resumes just a puper race, and
Speaker 4: that's like six months before you even even you go
Speaker 4: into selection. So I was like working up one o'clock
Speaker 4: in the morning and you know, big burgen of seventy
Speaker 4: five pounds, and I can't you know, I kind of
Speaker 4: run from home to the to the military barracks in
Speaker 4: Taham from you know, from Maidstone and then you know
Speaker 4: the whole. You know, once you get to the camp,
Speaker 4: you know, you have breakfast, but then you also need
Speaker 4: to do whatever that physical tax of that morning is,
Speaker 4: you know, with with the military. So I do that
Speaker 4: physical you know exercise or PET we call it physical
Speaker 4: training exercise. So and from there, obviously, and that was
Speaker 4: a I was a building and instructural finisher, so plastering
Speaker 4: and tiling whole day. And in the evening, you know,
Speaker 4: four o'clock, I used to run clean Fatti. So clean
Speaker 4: futic is like you know, at this time, I will
Speaker 4: not carry my berg and I leave it there. I
Speaker 4: run back home again twenty kilometer. I have a quick dinner,
Speaker 4: then go to the gym cycle sixty five kilometer. And
Speaker 4: because I wanted to go to SBS, I had to
Speaker 4: be good in swimming, so I used to do like
Speaker 4: front frowl, like one hundred times none stuff in twenty
Speaker 4: five meters swimming pool. And I never you know, honestly,
Speaker 4: I trained like that for six months, six days a week,
Speaker 4: and I never say, okay today there is raining. Today
Speaker 4: there is a black black ice in you know, on
Speaker 4: the road. You know how it is, you know, and
Speaker 4: you know it's the weather in UK is very miserable
Speaker 4: and you can easily sleep, you know. But I never
Speaker 4: make any any excuses at all, because I really wanted
Speaker 4: to do to something, and even from this point, you know,
Speaker 4: the purpose was not only only about me and my desire.
Speaker 4: But and again I keep saying this too many many
Speaker 4: people who have even given interview or talked. I was like,
Speaker 4: if I even passed this, even if I get selected
Speaker 4: by the UK Special Forces Group, that I'm I'm happy
Speaker 4: to work for free, you know. So yeah, and eventually
Speaker 4: you know I pass it. And then of course you
Speaker 4: know you know me from from pull and and and
Speaker 4: also big brother, you know you were so supportive and
Speaker 4: you know for these people who are listening to this podcast,
Speaker 4: you know, when you are the first in a girca
Speaker 4: in the SBS and it's all like pretty much heavily
Speaker 4: dominated by marines and all that, and and it's not easy, right,
Speaker 4: I'm gonna be very honest, but you know, and was
Speaker 4: always there. You know, he's my brother and and and
Speaker 4: the guidance he gave me and all that. So yeah,
Speaker 4: and then big thank you and and since and then
Speaker 4: now and you know, like we have probably got around
Speaker 4: iron the total more than twenty Special Forces in SAS
Speaker 4: and SBS together, So the gate is open now, you know.
Speaker 4: So you know, it's just amazing.
Speaker 2: Talk about breaking the mold and being a trailblazer. So
Speaker 2: you know, you're the first gorkha for to pass selection
Speaker 2: for the Special Boat Service. You have an outstanding career,
Speaker 2: and then you leave because this passion of yours to
Speaker 2: lead the way to trail blaze, to break molds, to
Speaker 2: talk to me about Project Possible, because I.
Speaker 3: Remember it well.
Speaker 2: I remember you leaving the military and everyone's like, why
Speaker 2: are you leaving the military to go and kill yourself?
Speaker 2: This is you know, a suicide mission because you wanted
Speaker 2: to break the record to summit all fourteen peaks above
Speaker 2: eight thousand meters. There's only fourteen peaks above eight thousand meters,
Speaker 2: and you left the military to go and shatter this record.
Speaker 2: Which everyone fought was impossible. You named it project Possible.
Speaker 2: Put me into your mindset that you had in order
Speaker 2: to believe that one you could jump from your dream
Speaker 2: job as a Special Forces operator, Yeah, to then go
Speaker 2: in smashing this unbelievable record.
Speaker 4: Always you know, try to be you know, the be
Speaker 4: the noise of those people you know who are unheard
Speaker 4: or who doesn't have the voice, the servis never had
Speaker 4: the respect and the name that they deserve. That was really, really,
Speaker 4: you know, key, key thing that mattered to me. And
Speaker 4: the second in line with that one was, you know,
Speaker 4: I really believe that through this project I can I
Speaker 4: can show the world that doesn't matter where you come from,
Speaker 4: what your background is. You know, either you grew up
Speaker 4: in a really humbling family without anything else or whatever
Speaker 4: it is in either you can be black, white, brown,
Speaker 4: doesn't matter, you know, you know, if you have a
Speaker 4: bigger purpose than yourself, you can literally do the things
Speaker 4: that the world says it's not possible, you know, And
Speaker 4: just to code this. And at that point, when when
Speaker 4: we went for sponsorship, which we're gonna get a bit
Speaker 4: later on, even the Red Bull said, no names. You know,
Speaker 4: we're not gonna support this because you know, it's like
Speaker 4: you're saying that you're going to swim to the moon,
Speaker 4: you know, so at that point, no one was even
Speaker 4: even imagining it. So yeah, but I really believed it
Speaker 4: in that misin statement, which was not about me at all.
Speaker 4: And because it wasn't about me, it was for the
Speaker 4: whole people whose I believe, it's for the whole of
Speaker 4: the world. You know, that I could change the way
Speaker 4: of thinking, I could change you know, all that stuff,
Speaker 4: so which I believe in, you know, but I think
Speaker 4: you can come with so many ideas and stuff, But
Speaker 4: if you don't believe in that purpose, then that was nothing.
Speaker 4: You know, you can say a few people here and there,
Speaker 4: but because it's not really what you believe in, so
Speaker 4: that can't go that far away. But it's something that
Speaker 4: I believed in from my bone and I don't know
Speaker 4: from is molecules, you know.
Speaker 3: So that's why I love what you said. It was
Speaker 3: bigger than you. The purpose was bigger than yourself.
Speaker 2: And when you've got a purpose like that and the
Speaker 2: positive mindset that you have, you can flip the impossible
Speaker 2: into the possible, can't you.
Speaker 4: Yeah, And it was so tough though, you know, like
Speaker 4: you know now you have already leaved your career in
Speaker 4: this forcess. You have gone big time announcing the project
Speaker 4: no one lives in. You know, you're already now in
Speaker 4: the social media obviously. You know that's that's no way
Speaker 4: going back into SF anymore. You know, the pencil is gone.
Speaker 4: You kind of sold your house to to start off
Speaker 4: in a Foster second mountain, you know. And then and
Speaker 4: I'm really forever thankful to you, and which I'm going
Speaker 4: to bring this on this podcast because you know when
Speaker 4: when I had nothing at that point, you know, I
Speaker 4: still remember, you know, you give me quite decent money
Speaker 4: for me to go and cover actually two mountains, So
Speaker 4: big thank you brother, you know. And it wasn't only
Speaker 4: the money. It's like you know, when you have and
Speaker 4: then you give whatever it is, don't that doesn't mean
Speaker 4: but you know when I needed the must you know
Speaker 4: you were there, so you know once acad big thank
Speaker 4: you and yeah, thank you.
Speaker 2: Do you know what I remember our conversation well when
Speaker 2: you said no and I need to I need to
Speaker 2: get pound, like you don't need to do anything.
Speaker 3: I said, just stick to this part of the deal.
Speaker 3: I just want you to come back alive.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and you certainly done that, nim So I remember
Speaker 2: the first three climbs you smashed out within days. Take
Speaker 2: me back to that mindset of you tackling fourteen of
Speaker 2: the highest mountains in the world, knowing that that record
Speaker 2: was seven years and you wanted to do it in
Speaker 2: seven months. Take me through the first free climbs because
Speaker 2: I couldn't believe.
Speaker 3: How quickly you smashed them. And no wonder the sponsors
Speaker 3: came after that.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think, you know, And the big thing is yes,
Speaker 4: you know, you know, we managed to smash that and
Speaker 4: all that. We were on the the first mountain and
Speaker 4: is known for they call it, you know, you know,
Speaker 4: it's the most dangerous mountain in the world. In one
Speaker 4: in four people dies, you know, and second in a
Speaker 4: cator is there. And we were on that mountain and
Speaker 4: we've been working so hard and the thing is, yes,
Speaker 4: eventually we summit it. We came from the summit back
Speaker 4: to base camp and we were basically at the base
Speaker 4: camp prepared to go to the second mountain. According to
Speaker 4: the plan, you know, which is the all agree the
Speaker 4: helicopter was supposed to come. But what happened was that
Speaker 4: very morning we were made away like, nimhs, you know,
Speaker 4: doctor Chin is alive above Campo. And when I look
Speaker 4: at the footage of that, you a person who was
Speaker 4: flying the helicopter around and then this poor man was,
Speaker 4: you know, just below the summit, just just waving his hand.
Speaker 4: And what I really thought at that point was, you know,
Speaker 4: if that was me. You know, any tough decision I
Speaker 4: make in my life, I always put myself in the
Speaker 4: person soons, and I was like, if what if that
Speaker 4: was me? You know?
Speaker 3: So, nims, let me just break this down.
Speaker 2: You just summitted your first mountain, which was an Emporda,
Speaker 2: and you're back down. You've got a time scale to
Speaker 2: meet because you know you need to get to the
Speaker 2: next mountain. You know, you need to smash these first
Speaker 2: couple of mountains in order for the mission to continue
Speaker 2: because you won't get the funding. And then all of
Speaker 2: a sudden you get down and there's someone in the
Speaker 2: death zone on the very mountain you just summitted, and
Speaker 2: you need to make a decision. You look at these
Speaker 2: footage and you go right rescue mission straight away from
Speaker 2: from the very first mountain. What's going through your head
Speaker 2: when you're down there and you think to yourself I've
Speaker 2: got a helicopter that I can jump on right now
Speaker 2: to go to the next mountain, or do I spend
Speaker 2: the next couple of days.
Speaker 4: I think it goes down to basically, first of all,
Speaker 4: who you really are inside, and then of course, you
Speaker 4: know we did so many recently, you know, from these
Speaker 4: special forces. You know you're on some of them together,
Speaker 4: even with their because we never leave anyone behind. And
Speaker 4: the basic principle of life is if you forget what
Speaker 4: you've been taught, all the good stuff, you're never going
Speaker 4: to progress in life. So I kind of took that away, though, Yeah, how.
Speaker 2: Hard was it to not only make that decision, but
Speaker 2: how hard was it to go back up on the
Speaker 2: most tangerous mountain in the world, to risk your life
Speaker 2: to save a life?
Speaker 4: I think, but this isn't making wasn't hard If I'm
Speaker 4: being really honest, I know what, I have given up everything,
Speaker 4: but that's all metaialistic, you know, But there's people's lives,
Speaker 4: so it was it was really easy. But the mission
Speaker 4: was next level because you know, we went straight into
Speaker 4: her drop it just below Cam three and from Camp
Speaker 4: three to where Sin was. On the day when we
Speaker 4: opened the line, it had took us eighteen hours, okay,
Speaker 4: and now I'm thinking, like doctor gin has been there
Speaker 4: for more than twenty four hours, you know, so you know,
Speaker 4: we are racing against the time. So I think that's
Speaker 4: when we set up, you know, and we were like
Speaker 4: going as fast as we could, and we got there
Speaker 4: within four hours, and we straight away tried to get
Speaker 4: him as fast as possible, and yeah, you know, it
Speaker 4: was pretty much the rescue over the most of the night.
Speaker 4: And when we got him to down to Cam three,
Speaker 4: we had to wait for the helicopter. So that's when
Speaker 4: you know, we got him inside the inside the the ten.
Speaker 4: We we wrap him around the slipping bag, you know,
Speaker 4: tried to warm him up, try to you know, like
Speaker 4: wake him up, you know, remind him that his family
Speaker 4: is waiting over there. But we all had to I
Speaker 4: still remember, you know, we all, like myself and my
Speaker 4: three like server brothers were like like this, we're slapping
Speaker 4: here just to stay awake. And then so that you know,
Speaker 4: somebody has to to make him awake otherwise he's gonna die.
Speaker 4: So yeah, it was. It was really tough, and and
Speaker 4: you know the big thing is we still managed to
Speaker 4: get him off and we give one hundred percent, you know,
Speaker 4: and that's what I can be be happy with you.
Speaker 4: Although you know he passed away on the hospital, but
Speaker 4: we gave one hundred percent and that's the most important
Speaker 4: thing that that I can say.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 2: Wow, So once you've done that mission, you know, talk
Speaker 2: about then getting your head back in the game for
Speaker 2: Project Possible. So once that's done, he's safely off the mountain.
Speaker 2: You got, you kicked straight back into the mission Project Possible.
Speaker 2: And where'd you go next?
Speaker 4: We went to We went to that agree and you
Speaker 4: know again this mountain was the next level. I still
Speaker 4: remember we we probably only living in five days because
Speaker 4: we lost the good weather because of you know, we
Speaker 4: tried to go and riskue mistressing. That means we lost
Speaker 4: three days of the of the good weather. That means
Speaker 4: we are now climbing in storm. And I still remember
Speaker 4: all my like, you know, team you know, save us,
Speaker 4: were really really scared, like names, how how are we
Speaker 4: gonna come down? We don't even see anything, And I
Speaker 4: was like, bro, listen item from Special Forces. My navigation
Speaker 4: is on this spot. It is my end. And look
Speaker 4: I'm right at the front. And we keep pushing, We
Speaker 4: keep pushing and it was the most horrific I would
Speaker 4: say weather. But yeah, I think it was just because
Speaker 4: we had that that purpose and we're saying like because
Speaker 4: we have also just came from doing a really good thing.
Speaker 4: So I felt like spiritually we are also like you know, protected.
Speaker 2: When you got off and a Purna. That wasn't your
Speaker 2: first rescue mission. It went from rescue mission to rescue
Speaker 2: mission to rescue mission, all the way through Project Possible
Speaker 2: to the very end, isn't it.
Speaker 4: Yeah, we had to do three rescues on Contentena. You know,
Speaker 4: we made this climber fifteen minutes below the summit. You
Speaker 4: know we're coming from Special Forces. What the first thing
Speaker 4: we established the commps Okay, we seek for help, you know,
Speaker 4: because you know you are now giving your oxygen and
Speaker 4: you aren't even acclaomatized for that stage, you know, so
Speaker 4: you're coming off the oxygen giving to them. You're without oxygen,
Speaker 4: you're doing the rescue, you are asking for help. And
Speaker 4: those people said to me on the radio, okay, names
Speaker 4: like please continue the rescue. You know we're coming up
Speaker 4: to help you, okay. And that means we gave one
Speaker 4: hundred percent. There was no reserve then finding another guy
Speaker 4: and having to have like two of them died at
Speaker 4: the end because literally nobody came. And I think it
Speaker 4: was really a wake up call, which was extremely shocking,
Speaker 4: upsetting because I came to campho I, you know, tried
Speaker 4: to wake up every ten and all that nobody wake up.
Speaker 4: Even way before that. When it got back, I was
Speaker 4: on the talking on the radio. Everybody turned off their
Speaker 4: radio off. So it really hurt me as well. But
Speaker 4: I knew that I was doing true things. I knew
Speaker 4: that I was. I was you know who you know
Speaker 4: if you get under your scalet and this is the nims,
Speaker 4: you know, So I was proud of who I am,
Speaker 4: So I know, I I called my wife should Si
Speaker 4: at that point, and I was in tear and I
Speaker 4: was trying like a baby, like a baby. This happened,
Speaker 4: but you know that's me.
Speaker 2: So let's talk about when you achieve you've hit the
Speaker 2: fourteenth peak, you come back down, you have smashed the
Speaker 2: record from nearly eight years to seven months.
Speaker 3: What did that feel like, mate, to know that you've.
Speaker 2: Just absolutely annihilated this this record.
Speaker 4: You feel amazing, you know, because and at that point,
Speaker 4: because you know, everybody thought that is he gonna do it?
Speaker 4: Is he not gonna do it? And all that, and
Speaker 4: eventually I did it, so everybody was happy. Okay, the
Speaker 4: Netflix shaw, you know, fourteen Picks was the must worse
Speaker 4: documentary of that that point, you know, everybody was like names,
Speaker 4: you know, thank you for putting Nepal into into global
Speaker 4: map again and you know, all all this positive energies.
Speaker 2: But what I really love about this whole story is
Speaker 2: the K two Winter. K two Winter is something that
Speaker 2: everyone talk about, you know, Project Possible being impossible. Let's
Speaker 2: quickly touch on K two Winter, because that was mission
Speaker 2: impossible and you made it possible. And where when are
Speaker 2: we going to see that come into light? And when
Speaker 2: are we going to see that hit our screens?
Speaker 4: You know, hopefully hopefully soon. And I think this story
Speaker 4: is way even perhaps you know, ten times more powerful
Speaker 4: than Project Possible in my opinion, for so many reasons, guys,
Speaker 4: you know, so many reasons. What we managed to do
Speaker 4: as as a team together, but also as a leadership.
Speaker 4: You know, of course I had all my saf has
Speaker 4: really paid well, and arguably I could be the first
Speaker 4: person to be there perhaps and if I plan it
Speaker 4: for my own glory on my success on my name
Speaker 4: and all that, and that's how the whole expedition has
Speaker 4: been in the past, you know. But I'm a man
Speaker 4: of fairness, and I always believe that, you know, since
Speaker 4: we all are working together, why we don't take and
Speaker 4: sere equal success, equal name, equal glory. And K two
Speaker 4: was the only mountain in the world that was never
Speaker 4: climbing winter. You name whatever, the best mountaineer in the world,
Speaker 4: you guys, you name it. They all have tried it.
Speaker 4: Nobody made it.
Speaker 3: You know, it's not accessible.
Speaker 2: K two isn't accessible at the best of times, let
Speaker 2: alone in winter.
Speaker 3: You know, even in summer, Yes you can't. Yeah, it's
Speaker 3: not accessible. Sometimes you can't even access the mountain in summer.
Speaker 2: What I loved is that virable moment of you on
Speaker 2: K two winter with your n the police team walking
Speaker 2: to the summit hand in hand, cuddling together, singing the
Speaker 2: national al anthem.
Speaker 3: Is that right to the very summit.
Speaker 2: What a moment, What a life defining changing moment in
Speaker 2: the community that NEPO absolutely deservely uh cherished from bro.
Speaker 4: You know that was like, you know, I still remember,
Speaker 4: like and as we gather around and then our last
Speaker 4: climber wasn't that far as well, you know, so so
Speaker 4: we all gather around and as we walk to the summit,
Speaker 4: I think because every soul feel really respected and there
Speaker 4: was equal to it, I didn't even care about the view.
Speaker 4: And it was just that analogy, you know, because most
Speaker 4: of the guys were in tears, you know, when we're like,
Speaker 4: you know, you know, and when we see it, and
Speaker 4: it was a sore much power of spirit, power of happiness,
Speaker 4: power of fairst out of selling the zoo. And that's
Speaker 4: when we again put Nepal into global map, you know.
Speaker 4: So yeah, it was, it was. It was the best thing.
Speaker 4: But also what I managed to do here, and was
Speaker 4: when I did the Fourteen Pigs straightway after the documentary,
Speaker 4: the Western climbers started criticizing me, and you know, quite rightly.
Speaker 4: David Goggin says that you know, if you if you
Speaker 4: even walked into the water, they will say he's walking
Speaker 4: in the water because he cannot stream, you know, so anyway,
Speaker 4: so but it had got to me, so I was like, okay,
Speaker 4: you know, so at this point, before I did the
Speaker 4: summit brief, we check the weather. I read the weather out.
Speaker 4: Now here's the weather team, we need to go and
Speaker 4: climb this, but one team member among us has to
Speaker 4: climb at this one. At this one has to go
Speaker 4: without oxygen. And I asked individually and the team said
Speaker 4: no and ed this went. The team didn't knew what
Speaker 4: I was going through. So I had a first bite on,
Speaker 4: a first snip on my three fingers hair and three
Speaker 4: fingers here. But I was wearing small gloves and I
Speaker 4: was hiding it because as a leader, you want you
Speaker 4: don't want to show the weakness, you know. But at
Speaker 4: this point, because you know, little things matter on the
Speaker 4: big mountains, and those little mindset is the difference between
Speaker 4: success and the failure, and I didn't want it to
Speaker 4: show them any weakness, you know, exactly exactly. So at
Speaker 4: this point, for the first time, I take my gloves
Speaker 4: out and I said, guys, look my three fingers here,
Speaker 4: three fingers here. I have a first nip. I would
Speaker 4: one percent go and climb this without oxygen. But if
Speaker 4: I go without oxygen, is you know, you know your
Speaker 4: body feel colder, you know, and I already have frost snip.
Speaker 4: That means you know, I'll go into frostbite and I
Speaker 4: wouldn't be able to use this hand and I probably die.
Speaker 4: So can anybody take this responsibility? Because I knew that
Speaker 4: Western community will criticize again, we just need to do
Speaker 4: this clean and caught. No criticize because it doesn't matter
Speaker 4: what you did. The Eastern media is so big that
Speaker 4: you know you cannot go and keep telling everybody. So
Speaker 4: I just wanted, don't clean so.
Speaker 3: So big and so brutal.
Speaker 4: Yeah, and nobody again, nobody step up again? You know.
Speaker 4: For me, I was like, Okay, now I have to
Speaker 4: do it. And I was so much worried because how
Speaker 4: I keep up with this guy without oxygen and so
Speaker 4: that we climb together. And by this point and I
Speaker 4: had faced so much the real brutality, the reality of
Speaker 4: a thousand meters where you know, you don't know who,
Speaker 4: who is bought by, who's who's where, who's there? You know,
Speaker 4: So I was thinking, if I'm lit by the by
Speaker 4: the ten meters point, then somebody's just gonna go and
Speaker 4: take all the glory and the equality. We're gonna won't
Speaker 4: be there and you know all that stuff. So I
Speaker 4: was like, okay, you know, but anyway, you know, I
Speaker 4: was right at the front, managed to stop and and
Speaker 4: the first post we made it. And if this is
Speaker 4: what the Special Forces teach to anticipation, you know, we
Speaker 4: we we talked about the team and the first post
Speaker 4: was about the team and guess what spread away the
Speaker 4: Western community saying that, oh, it's not a great because
Speaker 4: it was with oxygen and all that. I'm just waiting there.
Speaker 4: I was like, okay, and I know even wanted to
Speaker 4: tell this story, but I saw some of the comments
Speaker 4: me valuing the achievement, and those people who were criticizing
Speaker 4: were some of my Western friends who had submitted mountains
Speaker 4: on the lines me and you fake fixed, yeah, and
Speaker 4: it really hurt me. And and after two days of
Speaker 4: you know, like getting criticide to make my gine, you know,
Speaker 4: dear brother came and nimns, you just need to say
Speaker 4: it because it's too much. Now we just need to
Speaker 4: kill the negative day. And that's when I said, okay,
Speaker 4: you know, have done with that oxygen. But yeah, this
Speaker 4: story is so powerful. But it was again with the purpose,
Speaker 4: you know, So that's what it got us there.
Speaker 2: You know, when are we going to see K two
Speaker 2: winter on our screens?
Speaker 3: Sure? You know, because I have seen the fourteen pigs.
Speaker 2: We we keep constantly touch of saw you not long
Speaker 2: ago and for this needs.
Speaker 3: You know, I've seen some of the rushes that you've
Speaker 3: shown me.
Speaker 2: Yeah, this will blow I think fourteen, Well, I don't
Speaker 2: think you can blow fourteen.
Speaker 4: But then we can. We can, we can because it's
Speaker 4: farily so unique.
Speaker 3: When when are we saying it?
Speaker 4: Well, hopefully, you know, hopefully soon, And you know we're
Speaker 4: still in it because you know, we need to get
Speaker 4: it right. You know, there can be only one real
Speaker 4: key to Winter documentary, you know, so we just have
Speaker 4: to do it right. It needs to be you know good.
Speaker 4: So yeah, I just have announced that the biggest project
Speaker 4: of you know, my lifetime, you know, it is the
Speaker 4: hat Trick, which is like the three times the summit
Speaker 4: of fourteen one thousand meter picks and the seventh summits.
Speaker 4: And the key here is, guys, I'm raising the money
Speaker 4: for the Nimbs Life Foundation. Every money raised, one hundred
Speaker 4: percent will be will be given to the charity, you know,
Speaker 4: and and and the charity has done amazing stuff like
Speaker 4: building a porterhouse in Logocy for eggs example. You know,
Speaker 4: everybody keeps saying that, you know, the porters are at
Speaker 4: the backbone of mountaineering. Everybody is talking, but there's no accent.
Speaker 4: You know how long this guiding industry has been there
Speaker 4: for sixty seventy years, you know. But it is so
Speaker 4: sad to see that when people track for six seven days,
Speaker 4: they go to Feriche, and from Feris they go to
Speaker 4: this village called Lobiji, which is the second last village,
Speaker 4: the second last village of getting to the Bascun. And
Speaker 4: unfortunately at Lobuse there is no accommodation for those poor guys,
Speaker 4: you know, really humble guys to sleep in and they
Speaker 4: have to go back to to to Feriche, you know.
Speaker 4: So you know, we are making a porterhouse. And I
Speaker 4: think it's all life is about dignity, right, so if
Speaker 4: we give them that little respect, whatever it is, they
Speaker 4: feel like. You know, yes, we might be the most
Speaker 4: list paid people in this industry, but you know we
Speaker 4: are being at least respected here. We are looked after,
Speaker 4: you know. So this is why you know that that
Speaker 4: really nice porterhouse is getting met there. And we are
Speaker 4: also you know, supporting any veterans who has got you know,
Speaker 4: PTSD and all that they can come and do some
Speaker 4: sort of adventure. And and I'm a big believer that
Speaker 4: any illness can be recovered through adventure. You know. This
Speaker 4: adventure is the thing guys, you know, and everyone who
Speaker 4: is listening to this podcast, you know, I know, me
Speaker 4: and my brother and he's running a trip to Kilmenzaro
Speaker 4: for all these novices who wants to get into mountaineering
Speaker 4: or climb big mountains. But it's also not only about that, guys.
Speaker 4: It's about if you go and do some outdoors, either
Speaker 4: that could be skydiving or that could be you know,
Speaker 4: climbing small mountains or big mountain it keeps you you,
Speaker 4: It keeps your it keeps your inner syle alive, you know.
Speaker 4: So so that's why, you know, and it's the same
Speaker 4: thing I comment and serve these soldiers you know, who
Speaker 4: give their life for this countryver prepared to die, you know,
Speaker 4: looking after them through adventure and equally again, you know,
Speaker 4: you know, I believe that ours is our only home.
Speaker 4: Even the elendmox is trying to put things on Mars,
Speaker 4: but right now Art is our only home. And as
Speaker 4: names die, I what I do is I look after
Speaker 4: the big mountains. So you know, we've been doing the
Speaker 4: big mountains still a project for the last couple of
Speaker 4: years and it is not cheap, and but I am
Speaker 4: right at the front doing it, and hence why we need,
Speaker 4: you know, those levels of funds to do good things,
Speaker 4: you know, So if anyone is there to sponsor again
Speaker 4: this project, guys, I don't even take that money for
Speaker 4: the expedition. It goes towards the foundation. Please help us,
Speaker 4: that's all.
Speaker 2: And when you are names, you know, when you're at
Speaker 2: the forefront, you're going to take all the good and
Speaker 2: all the bad when you're trailblazing. We are indeed running
Speaker 2: an expedition in Killemen, Jamo this August, so check out
Speaker 2: NIMS Day's website. I will be there leading with NIMS.
Speaker 2: So jump on board if you wish. Nims, you are
Speaker 2: indeed brave and you are indeed loyal everything that you've
Speaker 2: brought forward from becoming a young at such a young age.
Speaker 2: Stay keep leading, stay oil, and NIMS just be you.
Speaker 4: Thank you, brother, Thank you so much, brother, and thank
Speaker 4: you everyone who's listening to this podcast.
Speaker 2: If you'd like to find out more about Nims's story,
Speaker 2: you can read his memoir Beyond Possible.
Speaker 3: Thanks for listening to this episode of Head Game. If
Speaker 3: you enjoyed it, please leave me a review. Or share
Speaker 3: it with a friend. I'm Att Middleton. See you in
Speaker 3: the next episode.