Nirmal Purja aka Nimsdai was quite a force of nature. His entry into mountaineering in 2012 was like an avalanche, after rigorous stints in the British Gurkha Brigade and the elite Special Boat Service of the Royal Navy.
His exit from the world on July 30, 2026, too, was swift. Like the avalanche that buried him in the icy expanse of Broad Peak in PoK.
Nimsdai called himself the ‘Usain Bolt of 8,000-plus peaks’ after summiting all 14 eight-thousanders in just six months and six days in 2019, shattering the previous record held by Italian mountaineer Reinhold Messner, who completed the feat over eight years in 1986.
To fellow mountaineers and the growing cult followers the British-Nepalese adventurer inspired in Kerala, he was exactly that — a bolt of charged energy that illuminated the power of the human mind to make the seemingly impossible possible.
Zuhra Cherukappalli, who recently summited Everest with Nimsdai’s team to become the third woman from Kerala to do so, turns emotional as she remembers him. “It was just two months ago that I was in the mountains with him. I cannot believe he is no more,” she says. “He radiated positivity. There was an aura. He was different.”
Broad Peak, which claimed his life, was part of Nimsdai’s ambitious attempt to climb all 14 eight-thousanders once again under the project 3×14 Peaks. The second time, he completed the feat without supplementary oxygen, setting another record.
What, however, first shot him to global fame was his original conquest of the 14 peaks. That expedition later became the acclaimed Netflix documentary ‘14 Peaks: Nothing Is Impossible’.
“What it actually did was make those heights accessible to the human mind, which is why he titled it ‘Project Possible’. Otherwise, mountaineering was considered something ‘undoable’ for ordinary people,” says Ajayan Pillai, a techie and avid trekker whose Kilimanjaro guide was part of Nimsdai’s team.
“The social media boom after 2020, coupled with people’s urge to explore the outdoors after the pandemic, also added to the push. Now, many aspire to such feats.”
To Ajayan, Nimsdai was “a different animal, incomparable”, because of his “unwavering faith in the power of the human mind”.
Perhaps tapping into human potential was what Nimsdai meant when he described his ventures as being “beyond adventure”.
“The mountain just tests your body, and it is your mind that decides whether you reach the summit. Giving up is not in the blood, sir,” Nimsdai had famously said on several occasions, including in the documentary.
That resolve is what truly set him apart, feels Sreesha Raveendran, the second Malayali woman to scale Everest.
“Nimsdai’s target was never merely the peaks but challenging the fear within the human mind,” she says. “He was not just a strong climber but also a visionary. Truly irreplaceable.”
For Sheikh Hasan Khan, the only Keralite to have summited the highest peaks in each of the seven continents and who is now planning a Kilimanjaro expedition, Nimsdai was undoubtedly an indomitable talent, but it was his empathy that distinguished him. “We have heard several stories of how he could have safely returned to base camp, yet chose to climb back into the death zone to rescue fellow climbers,” says Sheikh.
“He also restored pride to Nepal and the Sherpa community by highlighting their role as the backbone of Himalayan expeditions. Earlier, Nepalese climbers were often seen merely as anonymous porters or guides. Today, they are recognised as world-class athletes and high-altitude veterans. His ventures, Elite Exped and the Nimsdai Foundation, worked towards that goal.”
For many mountaineers, Nimsdai will remain a towering figure, says 21-year-old Mahadevan Randeep, who credits the Netflix documentary with inspiring his own ambitions.
“I completed a mountaineering course and now lead treks in Uttarakhand. I am aiming for much more in this field,” says the youngster from Kerala, who runs a mountain stay and trekking facility in Sari, Uttarakhand.
As Nimsdai’s body has been recovered, tributes are also pouring in for the other members of the expedition who lost their lives.
“They were among Nepal’s finest climbers. The team also included our immediate leader, Pur Bahadur Gurung, better known as Yukta,” says Zuhra.
For her, Nimsdai embodied discipline, steadfastness and compassion. “He did so much for his community and took great care of those who travelled with him,” she says. “He also showed, by example, why we should love the mountains. Expeditions are never about conquering mountains but about allowing the mountains to reveal our true worth.”
Sheikh agrees. “We begin every climb with a prayer,” he says. “It reminds us that the mountain works with us to help us discover ourselves.”
Ajayan offers another perspective. “As the saying goes, ‘I decide whether I will go up the mountain, but the mountain decides whether I will come down.’ Mountains reduce you to nothing, and through that, everything,” he says. “Up there, silence is at its most powerful, and your only friend is your breath.
” Nimsdai made people realise that, adds Sheikh. “He left this world doing what he loved most,” he says. “Perhaps there can be no more fitting tribute than that. Let us celebrate the life he lived.”
Forever in the Himalayas
For Zuhra Cherukappalli, the ascent to Everest two months ago was a milestone for many reasons. The Malappuram-native and mother of two had tried her hand at the feat earlier too, but in vain. This time, her resolve was stronger and her choices careful. “Probably why I chose to climb with Nimsdai,” says the 40-year-old. But on the climb, it was not just Everest anymore. It was the lessons in life that she picked up from the legendary climber, the likes of whom “do not appear often”. “He was very good at inspiring you and keeping your energy up through every turn of the climb. I understood that summitting is not about the body, but the mind. It came with its discipline too — he told me to keep my time scrupulously without any fail. When someone had a fall and got his leg stuck in a crevice, Nimsdai told him that he was just 45% down and that he was more than that fall to pick himself up,” she recalls, adding Nimsdai’s care for each of his travel mates was endearing. “He would personally check in to make sure if we had eaten, if we had any issues, etc,” she remembers. And then, at the end of it all, when she teared up in bliss of having summited the peak, he hugged her as she spoke of her hidden fear of having to give up. “But his famous words — ‘Giving up is not in the blood’ — led me on,” she recalls. It was this moment of warmth between him and her that became his final Instagram post before he went up the Broad Peak, where he now rests forever — in the lap of the Himalayas.
Fitting tribute
As tributes pour in for Nimsdai, Kerala-born Everest summiteer Sheikh Hasan is planning one the way a mountaineer should. He plans to carry a banner, with Nimsdai’s picture and his feats printed on it, to the summit of Kilimanjaro. “It’s my tribute to a man, the likes of whom are hard to come by,” Sheikh says.