14 Peaks: Nothing Is Impossible (2021) - full transcript

Don't be afraid to dream big.

Doesn't matter where you come from.

You can show the world...

nothing is impossible.

There are only 14 mountains
in the world higher than 8,000 meters.

The quest to climb these mountains
is a story that goes back 100 years.

Above 8,000 meters
in the death zone,

it's a very high-stakes game.

The cold, the wind, avalanches.

When a climber gets into trouble

without other strong climbers
around them to help,



they're usually left to die.

In the history
of high-altitude mountaineering,

there is no one respected
more than Reinhold Messner.

He was the first climber to summit
all the fourteen 8,000-meter peaks.

It took him 16 years.

Fear is always in you.

You have the feeling,
"I am only safe if I'm back in base camp."

"Back in civilization."

Climbing all the 8,000-meter peaks
in one lifetime is very hard.

Normally, for a single eight-thousander,
it's a major endeavor.

It's a huge two-month expedition
just to climb one 8,000-meter peak.

But sometime in the spring of 2019,

the mountaineering world started talking
about this crazy guy from Nepal.

He was someone
that nobody had ever heard of.



Everyone was asking,

"Who the hell is Nims Purja?"

All right, mate.

The fastest time to climb

all the fourteen 8,000-meter peaks
was seven years.

If I can stay alive,
I can do this in seven months.

This is about inspiring the human race.

The climbing community of Nepal

have always been
the pioneers of eight-thousanders,

but they never got
the respect they deserve.

I want to represent
the Nepalese climbing community.

My mission was divided into three phases.

Phase 1 would be Nepal.

I would need to be
the first climber in history

to summit six 8,000-meter peaks
in the spring season.

Phase 2 would be in Pakistan,

where I would need to summit K2,

and you've got to be lucky
to survive that mountain.

And for Phase 3,
I would need to get permission

from the Chinese government
to climb in Tibet.

I was told that my plan was impossible.

So I decided to name it Project Possible.

It was a crazy idea.

But it wasn't a surprise to me.

He's constantly thinking...
He's constantly thinking of something.

I don't know what.
But his brain doesn't rest at all.

We got married
when we were very young.

For her to let me go
and do this huge project...

Suchi is an amazing human.

She's mentally super strong.

Well, I understood the risk,

uh, but I think it was in his character.

He's very driven.

Finally!

Yeah, finally we're going to do it.
Don't worry, I'll be fine.

Make sure you look after yourself.

It was so dangerous.

But I knew
it was gonna be life-changing for him.

On this project, I will be
supported by a team of Nepalese climbers,

who would climb with me

on different mountains
throughout the expedition.

I have to trust these guys with my life.

But I also knew
that it was going to be fun.

Good morning, everybody, guys!

Project Possible team!

Mingma is the strongest climber
I have ever met.

My right-hand man. Okay?

For me,
mountaineering is all about exploring.

Geljen
is the best dancer on the planet.

Everyone in the team
treats each other like brothers.

We party together.

Lakpa Dendi,
he can carry the size of a house.

I had hope that if
we all pulled together, it was possible.

This was a good thing for Nepal.

Here's my brother
Gesman! Hey!

Gesman, he is willing
to put everything on the line.

No one had ever
attempted anything like Project Possible.

We had to be part of this.

The established way
of behaving in mountaineering

is to be very humble
and to understate one's goals.

Nims is very much the opposite.
He's very outspoken.

This is me, I got abdomen,
but this gonna go away, you know.

When he told me
about Project Possible,

it was just mind-boggling.

You're dealing with weather windows,

the logistics, the route conditions...

and it's extremely dangerous.

I thought, great ambition here,
but not likely to succeed at all.

Sometimes you got to focus
on something that's very important to you.

I'll make this happen.

And it's going to go away for sure. Boom.

Yeah!

It doesn't matter
how many times you've been there

and how many times you've seen it.

Your mind just can't comprehend
how big Annapurna is.

It gives you this sense of going to battle

and you're going to fight
something pretty mean.

For every three climbers
that make it to the summit,

one dies trying.

I'm Geljen Sherpa.
I'm going to summit Annapurna.

Hello! I'm Mingma David Sherpa.

I first came to hear
about Nims through my uncle

with whom he climbed
his first mountain, Lobuche Peak.

I told Nims,
"I will support you as a brother,

and I will give everything
I can for the project."

I was leading
the fixing team.

You set the ropes,
opening the route for others.

This is what it takes to set fixed lines.

See how tired he is, my brother.

You know, and see the sun.
It's been a struggle today.

Don, my brother.

I was on Annapurna
at the same time as Nims.

This is my friend Don,

trying to trailblaze
on six feet of deep snow.

I've made five different attempts

over 13 years to try
to make it to the top of this mountain

and haven't been able to do it.

There is no other climb
that I've ever been on

where the mountain
is literally crumbling down on top of you.

It's terrifying.

Okay.

You feel like you have no control.

Just in time.

Well, that's just off our shoulders.

The weather was good,

but because of the amount
of fresh snowfall, it was really hard.

It's super deep.

Somewhere it's waist-deep.

After fresh snowfall,
there are frequent avalanches.

That was super tough.

There was a point where I gave up,

and I just said,
"Nims, this is not going to work."

Giving up is not in the blood, sir.
It's not in the blood.

That was the first daylight
for me about his project.

This guy believed
that they were going to do it.

And they pushed through.

Summit!

Yes.

See that, man?

I couldn't be prouder of this guy.

Every time I was like,
"Eh, man, things don't look like

they're gonna go through
on this, uh, Annapurna climb."

He's like, "I believe."
Here we are standing on the summit.

- Thank you so much.
- Love that.

Love you, brother. That means a lot to me.

Yes!

Look at that view.

I was so happy at the summit.

But I was like, "Well, Nims,

the clock starts now."

We came down from the summit,
got to Camp 4, and slept that night.

In the morning,
Nims poked his head inside the tent.

He said, "We got a problem."

"There's a climber from a different team,
he didn't come down in the night."

"He's still up there."

There was a helicopter
that was flying in to see where he was.

This is a really morbid thing to say.

We were hoping
that he had passed in the night.

To consider that he had survived
that long at that altitude,

and without oxygen
was a pretty horrific thought.

He waved as we went by.

I just started to cry.

I thought, you know,
"What if that was me?"

He was just gonna die in hope.

So we made the decision
that we had to help.

Who's gonna be on the rescue team?

Me, Mingma, Gesman and Geljen.

It's almost on the margins
of the helicopter's limit.

I've been a mountaineer for 10 years.

I've been involved
in more than 100 rescues.

We were tired
and didn't have much energy.

I was scared about how the helicopter

would drop us from above.
I was very nervous.

Bravery doesn't
even remotely describe

what those guys had to do to go back up.

You finally summit one of
the most dangerous mountains in the world,

and now you gotta go back up there?

It is a roll of the dice.

Hello!

Your friends are here, okay?

You go home now.

Don't worry.
Oxygen, oxygen, we'll give oxygen.

Quick, quick!

Every second
means a life to him.

We knew that the helicopter
couldn't come at night.

So, we had to get him down
to Camp 4 as fast as possible.

You're very strong!

We go home, okay?

Gesman, make a pillow for him.

That night we just had
to slap ourself to keep us awake,

and we just took him
down to Camp 3 at 6:00 a.m.

Only five minutes before
the helicopter came.

I immediately went over
and I put my hand on his neck.

He was alive and breathing, but barely.

We had to get him
to the hospital as soon as possible.

Those guys were really,
really risking their lives.

That is a testament
to the character that they have.

This is the house that I grew up as a kid.

- Hello. Are you well?
- Yes, we are.

The security is very tight here.

Mum used to lock this, you know,

so there were no
nights out and stuff. You know?

Hello, hello! Mummy?

I was born in a poor family.

My mum and dad gave everything for us.

Hello, Mum. Thank you. Thank you.

My mum wasn't a soft mum.
She was tough for a reason.

I was always getting into trouble.

There wasn't a single day
where I wasn't beaten by the teacher.

Because I was a naughty boy.

Because he had three
older brothers, he was very competitive.

He was a fighter.

If there is any challenge,

he wanted to face,
and then he wanted to win.

Four years ago,
my dad had a heart attack

which made him half-paralyzed.

He had been a Gurkha.

Considered one of
the toughest fighting men in the world,

Gurkha regiments have fought valiantly
in the British army for many years.

In Nepal,
you had limited opportunities.

Being a Gurkha meant
you could travel the world.

The Gurkhas are steeped in history,

and they're unique soldiers.

The amount of effort that individuals

put into getting
into the selection process is huge.

Go!

So they've always
had that additional layer of pride.

In early life, I always used
to compete against other people.

I never knew how to back off.

When I joined the Gurkhas,
the biggest thing I learned

was I have to compete against myself.

To be better than who I was yesterday.

My mum is in really ill health.

She has to go to hospital twice a week.

Me being the youngest son,

I have always been Mum's boy.

I need her support

because this is the biggest challenge
I have ever taken.

There is no one
more special than you in this world, son.

Bless you.

Nirmal was telling us,

"I want to climb to show Mum
what your son can do because of you."

What did I get from my mum?

A lot, man.

Yeah. A lot of things.

Coming from Nepal, I knew
that I had the best team in the world.

I made sure they were paid more money

than they would get
from a Western expedition.

Climbing eight-thousanders
is also a chance

for them to build their careers.

Nepali mountaineers have
a long history of mountaineering,

but when it comes to taking the lead
on the international platform,

we haven't been able to reach that level.

There is a big difference between climbing

for a foreign mountaineer
and a Nepali one.

We are immensely proud
that our leader is Nepali.

We started making good progress,

but in the distance, I could see
a huge cloud cover coming towards us.

We were carrying a really heavy pack.

We had to take our tent,
oxygen tanks, the rope, everything.

You got to question yourself.
Are you doing the right thing?

At that stage,
we were climbing despite the fear.

One wrong move and we were gone.
It was that kind of a situation.

I said to them,
"Guys, this is my idea."

"If you feel like it's stupid
and if you feel like you're gonna die,

you don't have to come with me."

But they kept going.

Yeah!

We left for the summit push at 9:00 p.m.

Hoping that we would summit
the next morning.

We summitted around
6:00 p.m. the next day.

It took 21 hours.

One of the hardest things
I have ever done.

Yeah.

Oh.

Oh, man. Pure by force today.

If the team were not equally good,
no summit.

Very tired today.

- Yeah, summit day!
- Yup.

He doesn't drink normally. So thanks, man.

- What a day!
- What a day, yeah.

After serving six years
with the Gurkhas,

I decided to apply
for the UK Special Forces.

That was the first time
I saw him working towards his goal.

And how crazy he is.

He used to wake up
2:00 or 3:00 in the morning,

run for 20 kilometers,

carrying 75 pounds on his back.

Work all day,
and then he would be off to the gym.

He wouldn't be back until 11:00.

That's how it was for six months.

I became
the first Gurkha in history

to be selected
for the Special Boat Service.

Being in the Special Forces
representing Nepal, wow!

1,000, 2,000, 4,000, 5,000, 6,000, 8,000!

Come on.

I learned quickly,
whatever the situation is,

you have to stay in control.

I'm going to have to cut away.

The whole experience gave me confidence
to take on massive challenges.

But in 2011...

I was in a gun battle.

I was on a rooftop,
providing fire support.

All of a sudden...

I'm falling through the air.

I hit the ground.

I thought I had been shot in the face.

It was a sniper aiming for my neck.

But luckily, the bullet hit
the extender of my weapon.

And the gun saved my life.

A couple of centimeters either way,

that's the difference
between life and death.

My friends ask,
"How do you do all of this?"

My answer is always,
"If I am constantly worrying about him,

then it's not going to do any good to me."

I would break down.

You have to be strong.

I've never wanted to deviate him
from his dream or his goals.

He knew what he wanted to do in life.

People today, if you ask them,
"Why you go to the high peaks?"

They say, "Because it's fun."
I don't believe them. It's not fun.

It's a place where you have to learn
to cope with pain because it's painful.

Eight o'clock in the morning,
we reach base camp.

Helicopter fly to Kathmandu yesterday.
Party. No sleep.

- Project Possible.
- Project Possible, brother.

After we summitted Dhaulagiri,
we had been partying in Kathmandu.

I was struggling a bit,
and I was hungover.

Most people climb this mountain in stages.

They go to Camp 1.
They'll sleep over there.

Camp 2, sleep over there.

Camp 3, Camp 4, and then to the summit.

Because of the weather window,
we had to climb in one day.

For Nims to climb Kanchenjunga

in a single push
from base camp to the summit

while hungover is, uh...

I mean...

I don't know what to think of that.

It's completely absurd.

Now, we are here at Camp 2.

The plan is to go
and hit the summit directly.

So we won't be sleeping.

Expeditions to 8,000-meter peaks
take a huge toll on your body.

Once you get above 8,000 meters,

you're in what is called the death zone.

You're breathing about
a third of the amount of oxygen

you're normally breathing at sea level.

The biggest danger
of climbing with oxygen is,

you become dependent on it.

If you run out,

your body is in an environment
that it's not adapted to.

Imagine not being able to breathe.

Bloody hell.

Yeah, we summitted
one of the best mountain in the world.

I'm doing some crazy stuff.

Look...
I got nothing more to give.

Bye-bye, Kanchenjunga.

One hundred meters below the summit,

we found another climber
completely messed up.

He had run out of oxygen.

Be strong. We'll go home.

We need to get to Camp 4 now.

Go, go. Go.

When you come off
the oxygen at that altitude,

it is extremely dangerous.

But without oxygen,
you'll never be able to survive this.

In the military,
I have never left anyone behind.

I wasn't gonna do that on the mountains.

So we gave the climber our oxygen.

And we made the radio contact
on all the camps saying,

"Hey, guys, we need help."

There were a lot of climbers at Camp 4,

and I said, "Look, just bring the oxygen."

I'm trying to contact them,

but no one is picking up the radio.

The wind is getting stronger
and his oxygen is almost finished.

Don't risk your life.
Come down now.

It's not in my blood
to leave a person behind.

The climber was massively struggling,

but I can't see any head torches
coming towards us for help.

- Does anybody have oxygen?
- There's no more oxygen.

There's no oxygen left.

Nims, brother...

If we stay any longer, we'll die as well.

What can I do, brother?
No one has come to help.

Brother...

I was told people were coming.

Brother...

I was told so many times.

Oh my God.

No one is coming.

I was at home and my phone rings.

I could hear Nims' voice.

And my heart sank.

He said, "He died in my arms."

"Nobody came to help us."

It was really scary.

He's got such a big project.

But he will always be
the first person to offer help to anyone.

I was making my way down.

Mingma and Gesman were far ahead of me.

I had been off oxygen
for more than 11 hours.

I started developing HACE.

Can mere man overcome
the relentless forces of nature?

HACE is
high-altitude cerebral edema.

You can't control your movements.

Can they contend with altitude
that robs a man of energy and will power,

and makes him move in a slow-motion dream?

I don't have enough power.
I don't have enough strength.

I just felt helpless.

I was scared, to be honest.

I needed to get down the mountain quickly.

It's a matter of life and death.

Suddenly, I started to lose control.

I saw a huge figure standing tall.

A big monster with the hair of a Yeti.

If I don't do something,
I'm going to be dead.

I said, "Hey, can you hear me?"

He's like, "Help."

"Help."

He was a climber who was lost.

He had HACE as well.

I had to gather all my energy
and resources to help him down to Camp 4.

I was mentally and physically drained.

For the first time,
I started to question my plan.

I didn't set foot
on the mountains until 2012.

That's when I realized

how strong a climber I was.

I just fell in love with
the physical and mental challenge.

We're here today,
testing Nims' ability

to get through three minutes
at 6,000 meters while cycling

to see how his body reacts
to a lack of oxygen

whilst also making decisions
quickly and accurately.

For context, we've had
world-record, ultra-endurance cyclists

who've only been able
to manage about 90 seconds

before we've had to cancel the test.

Keep going, Nims.
One... One more minute to go.

Physically, I believe
I have a natural gift.

I can climb with no sleep or rest at all.

It doesn't matter
how extreme the challenge is.

I'm not going to give up.

Last ten seconds.
Try and get through this one.

Last ten seconds.

Five, three, two, one.

And stop there.
Relax there, relax there. Stop there.

We can't underestimate
how strong it is

that he was able
to get through the three minutes.

His physiology means
he's got more oxygen available to him

for physical work by the muscles,

and also for decision-making
to use his brain.

Which means he's able
to operate at a far higher level.

This is your blood-oxygen saturation here.

- Yeah.
- In the blue. What's interesting...

I've not seen better results than Nims'.

Have you done yours?

- Have I done mine?
- Yeah.

Yes.

How is it?

- Not like that.
- Not like that? Good then, awesome.

He came to my house.

He said he wanted to leave the Army.

I said, "Nirmal, no. You cannot do this."

Mum was very seriously ill,

and Nirmal is the biggest financial asset
for the family.

He had just six years left in the Army.

I said to him,
"Make sure you get the pension,

then afterwards, whatever you want to do,
we do not stop you."

But he doesn't listen to me.

And he quit the Army.

We had a bitter row.

I didn't talk to him for three months.

For my family,
it was very uncertain.

Normally, the youngest son
look after their parents in Nepal.

But climbing eight-thousanders
had become my passion.

I wanted to show the world
what a human can do.

I said, "Waste of time."

"Waste of money."

I said to him,
"You're only thinking of yourself."

"You don't think about your family,
how we feel."

I love my brother so very much.

I don't want my brother to die.

There was no funding.

And we only had
a few months to raise the money.

In the Nepalese culture, you give.

So asking for money
was one of the toughest things he's done.

When he was approaching
potential sponsors,

he basically sounded like a lunatic.

The project will prove
the power of possible.

The amount he needed was huge.

But nobody believed he could do it.

Thank you all for being here.

All he was getting was disappointment.

I'm in awe
of your desire to want to do it,

but there hasn't been
any money forthcoming.

It's not investable.

It was time to make a decision
how we're going to do this.

Nims gets this idea.

The idea was to remortgage the house.

Everything was on the line.

But I believed in him.

I'd only summited three mountains.

My next target,

the highest mountain in the world.

On Everest, the mountain
is run by the Sherpas.

They work so hard
to support the Westerners.

They take a massive risk.

Without their support,
there wouldn't be a climbing season.

The guided route
on Mount Everest in the spring

is pretty far removed
from anything else in mountaineering.

There are literally hundreds
of climbers trying to get to the top.

You clip into a fixed line
that has been set by Sherpas.

And it's a highway up to the summit.

I knew that there were loads
of people on the mountain,

I was wary of that.
But I also knew that I had the speed.

Here's to the mission,
Everest, and Lhotse, and Makalu.

- Thank you, brother.
- Cheers.

- Mmm.
- Oh!

- Oh my God!
- Oh my!

For you! Only for you!

I wasn't planning on
just climbing Everest.

I wanted to climb Everest,
Lhotse, and Makalu,

the world's first, fourth,

and fifth highest mountains
within 48 hours.

No one has ever done that before.

We overtook 95%
of the people on the way up.

We summited quite early
in the morning around 5:30.

On the summit...

your soul becomes part of the mountain.

It makes you feel alive.

Spring 2019 Everest
was a perfect storm.

There was a weather window,
but only for May 22nd and May 23rd.

So you've got 400 climbers,
plus another 400 Sherpas,

all planning their summit attempts,
in this two-day weather window.

No one is moving at all.

Hey, boys, what are you trying to do?

The queue was so intense.

People were fighting who needs to have
the priority over going up or going down.

These guys, man.

We started to descend down.

I look back

and took a picture.

I posted the photo online.

It went viral around the world.

On the way
to the top of the world...

Traffic jam on Mount Everest.

Look at this, 300 climbers
queuing to make the summit.

A single file
on the roof of the world.

The astonishing photo
was taken by Nims Purja.

Hundreds of climbers...

Things just went absolutely crazy.

But I was so focused. Bring it on.

In the death zone, I come alive.

Yeah, brother. No messing around!

Everest, Lhotse, and Makalu in 48 hours.

The new world record.

It's been epic.

I know many people
didn't believe me when I started,

but I'm here right on top of Makalu,

and it ends
the first phase of Project Possible.

Hello, Mummy.

How many mountains
have you climbed?

Six.

I've climbed Annapurna,
Dhaulagiri, Kanchenjunga,

Mount Everest, Lhotse, and Makalu.

How many left to climb?

Still eight mountains to go.

When it comes to Mother,
she's our heart.

But we don't know
how long she's going to be here with us.

I asked where my son is,
and they showed me your video.

You were in the mountains,
and you were breathing heavily.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I got really scared.

Nirmal is so close to Mum,

but she was obviously
very worried because he wanted to climb.

Why are you crying, Mother?

Don't cry, Mother.

I am doing good work.

The world is learning so many things.

This is for Nepal and all the Nepalese.

Edmund Hillary and Tenzing
Norgay set foot where man has before.

They join history's greatest adventurers.

They conquered
unconquerable Mount Everest.

Tenzing Norgay
climbing Everest was a huge thing.

How did Tenzing feel up there
on top of the world?

He's very happy.

So many Western climbers have
climbed with a huge help from the Sherpa.

What I have heard most of the time is,
"My Sherpa helped me." And that's it.

That is wrong because he has a name.

What they should be saying
is Mingma David helped me.

That's Mingma trying to
find the old ropes.

Snow is too deep, right, brother?

Or, "Gesman Tamang helped me."

Me and my brother Gesman,
uh, we set up the fixed lines.

And now we're just going
to head back to base camp.

Yes, brother.

If not, you are a ghost.

Nims representing this new generation

of underappreciated
and under-recognized Nepali climbers

is totally exciting.

This is their moment.

Yeah!

If every Nepalese climber
and people from the poor background

see me doing this project,

they would be like, "I could be that guy."

Pakistan's 8,000-meter peaks

are some of the most inaccessible
and difficult in the world.

First you have Nanga Parbat,
the Killer Mountain,

which has claimed
the lives of so many climbers.

Then you head into the Karakoram.

Gasherbrum I, Gasherbrum II,

Broad Peak.

And then you have K2,
which has a notorious reputation.

All right, boys,
keep coming down.

How will we come back
up here later like this?

This guy nearly died
by slipping away, the bastard.

Shit! My legs are shaking, Mingma.

It's really dangerous, right?

My hands and fingers
are freezing using the camera.

Today,
it's snowing quite heavily.

So I just made the call
that we're gonna camp up here.

If the weather clears up,
we're gonna go head up.

Kinshofer Wall.
It's very technical.

If you fall from here,
you'll fall all the way down.

That's right, it's very dangerous.

I always say to myself,
"I'm not gonna die today."

"Maybe tomorrow, but not today."

The mountain doesn't say you are Black,

you are white,

you're weak, you're strong.

It's one rule for everybody.

If you give up... you die.

The next day,
I was climbing back down to base camp.

Suddenly I slipped.

I was going faster, tumbling down.

I lose the full control.

But then, I saw a rope.

I have to grab this.

So I used all my strength.
I just went boom!

I hold on to it for dear life.

I had fallen around 100 meters.

Not today, Nims. Not today.

It was a horrible experience, mate.

It shook my confidence massively.

As a leader, the team
have to have faith in you

to make the right decision.

Sometimes you have to hide your weakness.

There were moments when
I was struggling, but nobody saw that.

Here we are!

The day is absolutely beautiful today,
and it's quite stunning.

In the world of mountaineering,

the way in which
you climb the mountain matters.

The absolute purists believes
that climbing 8,000-meter peaks

should be done full Alpine style,

which means no use of oxygen.

It's a constant debate.

Nims' team is climbing
in the hybrid style,

where they're using oxygen
above 8,000 meters.

They're often putting in
the fixed lines to the summit,

and they're carrying
all their own climbing equipment,

so they're totally self-sufficient.

People saying that
it's so easy to climb with oxygen.

That is bullshit.

The other mountaineers
were basically waiting for us

to fix the ropes for them,
and they could just follow.

It is so much easier.

Hi, guys!

- Summit! Congratulations!
- Summit, Nims! Congratulations!

Reinhold Messner
climbed all fourteen 8,000-meter peaks

without the support of oxygen.

But this took him 16 years.

Some climbers criticized Nirmal,
but I did not understand why.

He was doing it in this way,

otherwise it's not possible
in such a short time.

I like people that do and not chat.

You have to be willing to try.

Trying means also,
you have a chance to fail.

In terms of Pakistan,
we've completed Nanga Parbat,

G1, G2, and what is left
to complete the second phase

is Broad Peak and K2
right behind over there.

I like watching
the faces of other climbers

when they get their first glimpse of K2.

You see this monumental pyramid of stone.

You know the thought
that's going through their head is,

"This is a really bad idea."

Before Nims arrived,
we had really struggled on K2.

There were actually three avalanches

where climbers
were swept down the mountain.

We, along with all the other teams,
made the decision to turn back.

It was my third attempt of K2.

We were all thinking,

"You have to respect the mountain.
Sometimes it doesn't want you up there."

"And you need to turn around and go back."

The atmosphere was super depressive.

But then, something happened.

Ah, you fucker!

- Hello! How are you?
- Hello. How are you?

Yes, I'm really good.

- Nice meeting you.
- Nice to meet you too.

Hello.

Uh, we went to Camp 4 and come back.

No problem. We are here now.

Project Possible is here. Okay?

When I arrived at the base camp,
those mountaineers were stressed out.

- Yeah. So, as a friend... Okay?
- Oh! Here's the thing.

So I started to do
a big wild party, mate.

- Cheers, brother!
- Ah, cheers!

This is the thing
that distinguishes him and his team

from the others.

He don't give a damn
what other people do or what they think.

Tonight we drink, tomorrow we plan!

Cheers!

You're going to make it happen.

- Guys, one life, yeah? We live it.
- Yeah! Yeah!

Early morning tomorrow, we're going
to be heading towards Camp 2, then Camp 4.

And our plan is to set up the fixing lines
by at least, you know, 1200 hours.

The climbers who had tried to summit,
they didn't want to go back up.

I can see fear in their eyes.

The people are giving up
because three people were in an avalanche.

Yeah, I got that.

And this condition
does not change in the last five days.

Well, we'll go and see.

Nims, you're a great boy,
and this is lovely propaganda,

but you don't change the mountain.

Of course, I never said
that I'm gonna change the mountain.

As a leader,
you've got to present yourself

with so, so much confidence.

I've been coming
from mountain to mountain,

and sometimes you feel like you're fucked,

but when you say you are actually fucked,
you are only like about 45% fucked.

A lot of people have turned around, right?

A lot of people have failed.

We have to unite,
and we have to go together.

There was this friend of mine,
very experienced mountaineer,

saying, "Klára,
it's 50% chance we make it,

and it's 50% chance we die."

And hearing that as a woman
and as a mother of two children,

I'm thinking,
"What the hell am I doing here?"

But then Nims said,
"Don't listen to the others."

"You need to take chances,
and you need to take the risk sometimes

in order to make things happen
for yourself."

That was the moment
when I realized, "Damn it."

"I will blame myself
for the rest of my life

if I don't give it one more try."

Above Camp 4 on K2,

there's the Bottleneck section
which is considered the crux of the route.

There's a giant overhanging ice cliff
just above it called the serac.

This wall of hanging ice
sometimes releases and sweeps

all the way down to base camp.

You could have your whole team swept away.

We thought there's no chance
anyone will summit K2 this season,

but Nims had
so much riding on this project,

he was ready
to go up there and risk his life

and give it his best shot.

A lot of people
had tried to set the fixed lines

just around the Bottleneck
in the daylight,

but that's an avalanche prone area.

My plan is to be on that part

where everybody had given up
exactly at one o'clock at night.

The snow will be like concrete.

This was the first time
where I had doubted my ability

because everyone had given up.

But the biggest strength
I have is, I have no fear.

I'm gonna go up there

and make my own assessment.

Today Camp 2.

Tomorrow, Camp 4. Next day, summit.

Most of us are forgetting
that from the beginning of our life...

we are approaching death.

Life is absurd...

but you can fill it with ideas.

With enthusiasm.

You can fill your life with joy.

When you are in the mountains,
you find out who you really are.

Any mistake I make, it could be death.

And when it comes to that moment...

you want to survive.

You want to live.

I climb so I can live
every moment of my life.

In such
a concentrated situation,

climbing and meditation is the same.

When the pain
is really forcing you to go down...

you keep going up.

You are really
on the edge of possibilities.

The edge of life and death.

Today, five of us,
all the Nepalese mountaineers,

made it to the summit.

And we made it not only for us,
we made it for everybody.

To go through
the Bottleneck commands respect.

But on top of that,

a lot of people summited
following in his footsteps.

Ah.

Nice photo.

Yes!

The conditions
on the mountain did change.

We did it.

Twenty-four climbers
reached the top in two days.

It was Nims and his team
that made it possible.

Good, good.

- Congratulations.
- Thank you.

Congratulations, eh.

Congratulations.

Welcome to base camp.

Congratulations. Welcome to base camp.

I have climbed
a lot of mountains in my life,

but this is my best moment.

So many people
had told us we couldn't do it,

which motivated us more.

Ten down, including K2, five to go.

No, four to go.

Make that correction, yeah? Four to go.

Thirty-six hours later...

...we were on the summit of Broad Peak.

We are here, myself, Mingma David

and Halung Dorchi Sherpa.

This will mark the end of second phase.

We had summited
the five highest mountains of Pakistan

in just 23 days.

I felt like I could do anything.

- Yes! Let's go!
- Okay!

I am the Usain Bolt
of 8,000 meters.

Success!

No one can defeat me.

During the gap
between Phase 2 and 3,

Mum's health went downhill.

She had a heart attack.

The doctor said
she can go at any time.

It would be wise for you
to call all your family here.

Our options are
either do surgery or make her stable.

A lot of people
have died on the surgery table.

From what I understand, Mum's chances
of being revived are completely zero.

Eventually, the doctor said
we can't operate on her

because she is so vulnerable.

Nims is so close to his mum.

If anything happens, the project is over.

It was so tough.

I just felt like I'm doing
this inspiring, positive endeavor.

But as a son, I felt I had failed.

I just said,
"Don't lose your heart," you know?

"She is proud of you."

It was a miracle.

She survived.

May God
always protect you, my son.

Mum, don't worry about me.

- Continue to be more successful, my son.
- Mmm.

May the world recognize you.

I'm going to summit the mountains, Mum.

I was touched so emotionally.

I have another chance.

My mum said to me,
"Nims, complete this for me."

The plan for Phase 3
was to summit Manaslu in Nepal first.

And then to enter Tibet
to climb Cho Oyu and Shishapangma.

But nothing goes
as planned on the mountains

which we should have known by then.

We got two bits of bad news.

One, my permit request
for Shishapangma has been rejected.

The Chinese government were saying
the mountain is closed for this year.

Problem two,
I was in the base camp of Manaslu,

but Cho Oyu will be closed next week.

I had to move fast.

There's no time for stopping, brother.

We're heading back to catch our flight,

so that we can enter Tibet
by tomorrow evening.

Most people
normally plan for one expedition,

but here we're planning for 14.

The logistics were very stressful.

The vehicle can't go
any further than this.

The deadline is running out of our hands,

and I could see
how much pressure he's going through.

So, we are
at the Cho Oyu base camp.

We were all worried about him.

Yeah, it's an absolute pleasure
to be here on the summit of Cho Oyu.

And, uh, in few days' time,
I'll give you the summit of Manaslu.

Whoo!

For Nims as well,
behind the scenes,

his mum was on his mind.

It was a constant worry for him.

Standing on top of Manaslu,
I was obviously happy.

But inside my chest...

I was feeling that
it could be my last mountain.

The one thing at this point
that could stop Nims from finishing...

was access to
the final mountain, Shishapangma.

To any normal person,

the Chinese government
giving you a hard no

would be a moment to, you know, walk away.

They have said no climbers
are allowed on Shishapangma.

But if it goes through
a Nepali government official,

they may allow it.

Nims was non-stop
meeting politicians.

What can we do for humanity?
To prove that power of possibility.

The former prime minister.

Sir, as a Nepali, I thought
of this project as this country's project.

But this could take four,
five, six months.

This is for everyone
here in this room.

Everyone who is in Nepal.

I'm no one compared to the power of China.

But I was never gonna get fazed by that.

I took two routes.

One, the political process.

The second was...

I asked my followers for help.

Many wrote
to the Chinese government.

From all over the world.

I also started to get support
from the mountaineering community.

- Yeah! Hey, Nims. Conrad.
- Jimmy.

Shout-out to you, man.
You've got Shishapangma.

You're the man. Crush it.

It is a project not only for himself,

but for Nepal,
for the Sherpas, for mountaineering.

The Chinese government
saw the whole world is supporting him.

Finally, the news came through that

the Chinese were opening
the mountain for me and my team.

One mountain to go.

Let's do this.

This is my last mountain.

Let's take it slow.

Let's make it really easy.

That was the plan.

What's up with this weather?

Gesman. Gesman, brother.

We need to tie the ropes.

It was horrendous.

We were really worried.

No one had climbed
Shishapangma since 2014.

It's an avalanche.

Who is my team?
Can we do this?

These are the questions you ask yourself
in this kind of situation.

But the project had become our dream,

and we were focused
on making it come true.

In life,
you have to keep doing what you believe.

You have to ask yourself,
do you really want this from your heart?

Is it for the self-glory?

Or is it for something bigger?

Sometimes, the idea that you come up with

may seem impossible
to the rest of the world,

but that doesn't mean
it's impossible to you.

And if you can inspire
one or two people in a good way,

then you can inspire the world.

Yes! Shishapangma! Yeah!

Whoo!

When I was on the summit,
I got on the radio.

Mum...

I said, "Mum, you know
that project I was talking about?"

"That is over."

We did it.

Mum obviously was very ill.

But she's a very stubborn lady.

She hang on, she fight, she fight,
she fight until her youngest son succeeds.

For her to be part
of that moment of success

and to be able to celebrate that together,

nothing can beat that, bro.

My mum said,
"Kamal, he has got godly spirit."

She was...

Hi, Mingma.

- Congratulations.
- Thank you. Thank you.

- Congratulations.
- Thank you.

I always knew he doesn't give up.

I had so many gray hairs because of
the stress that I was going through.

It was a roller coaster.

We made the impossible
possible by our teamwork.

Good leadership
is also required to achieve success,

and Nims demonstrated that very well.

Reaching that international level

is a big help
for Nepali climbers in the future.

Hey, guys. Now we have climbed
14 highest mountains in the world. Right?

Let's be brutally honest,

if this was done by
some European or Western climber,

the news would have been
ten times bigger than this.

Let's give the justice to the people
who really deserve the justice.

And you guys have the power.

Let's unite, let's make a difference.

Thank you.

Project Possible team!

He has all my respect.

He did this with his strategy.

And he did it first.

This was a unique statement
in the history of mountaineering.

Thank you.

What's next, mate?

Well, I haven't even started it.

And you know what?
Next, we go even bigger.

Yeah.

Go.

See you soon, okay?

Just wait and see.

And I mean it.

See us again.