Nirmal Purja

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Nirmal Purja is a British mountaineer and former Gurkha and British army personnel who was born in Nepal.He was brought up in Chitwan, Kathmandu, Nepal.In an interview, while talking about his journey, he said, As a kid in Nepal, I went barefoot because my family had nothing. Thats how I developed the resilience I needed for joining the Gurkhas, one of the most fearless forces in the British Army. Then against all odds, I became the first-ever Gurkha soldier in more than 200 years of history to join the Special Boat Service where I served in some of the worlds most dangerous warzones, kicking down doors to capture enemy gunmen and terrorist bomb makers. He added, But elite combat wasnt enough. I wanted more of a test. Thats where my next project came in, something nobody thought was possible to climb all fourteen death zone mountains in seven months. The previous standard for conquering the worlds most dangerous peaks was seven years, ten months and six days. I smashed through that achievement in six months, breaking several world records in the process. Id have been even quicker had I not been called in to lead four perilous, high-altitude rescue missions. I knew that to quit on the mountain was to die. Even though Id only started my climbing a few years earlier, as a hobby, I found I was able to adapt quickly to the deadly conditions. I was rarely phased by the lung-burning temperatures or brutal winds and fatigue seemed to pass me by. Fear became irrelevant because I had belief. In the death zone, I came alive..He used to participate in various sports like boxing and basketball while he was in school. Nirmal Purja after winning in schools sports competition.When he was 18 years old, he fulfilled his childhood dream of joining the Gurkha army as a soldier. For almost six years, he served the Gurkha army, and then he joined the UK Special Boat Service (SBS) as a cold-weather warfare specialist. He is the first Gurkha to join the UK Special Boat Service (SBS). Nirmal Purja on joining the Gurkha army.He then resigned from his position in the UK Special Boat Service and joined the Special Air Services (SAS) unit in 2018. Nirmal Purja while he was serving in the UK Special Boat Service (SBS).During his services in the army, he started developing an interest in mountain climbing. In 2012, he completed his first trek to the Everest Base Camp. He then did a trek of 6119-metre to the Lobuche East Peak, Nepal.After almost a year, he led 13 Gurkhas to Everest. Within 15 days, he climbed the Dhaulagiri mountains (8,167 metres) on 18 May 2014.On 13 May 2016, he completed the Mount Everest summit. On 15 May 2017, he completed the Gurkha expedition G200E in which he led the 13 Gurkhas to Everest on the eve of completing 200 years of Gurkha services in the British Army.On 9 June 2018, he was appointed as the Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) by Queen Elizabeth II for his achievements in high altitude mountaineering.