Kathmandu (AFP)

The Nepalese mountaineer Nirmal Purja wants to "make the impossible possible", he says in an interview with AFP before leaving for the ultimate mountain of his superhuman challenge to climb the 14 peaks of over 8,000 meters. altitude in just seven months.

"Nims", his diminutive, has the face chiseled by the sun, wind and extreme cold of his recent ascents at the no charge of the "8.000" of the Himalayas. Clad in a plaid shirt and Bermuda shorts, smiling and relaxed, the former British Special Forces soldier holds a rendezvous at a trendy cafe in Kathmandu.

Recently in possession of a special permit for the Shishapangma granted by China, which had closed the Tibetan summit of 8.027m this season, he is preparing to put on crampons and grab the ice ax with the hope of completing his "Project Possible" started in the spring.

"There are 14 mountains in the world above 8,000 meters, the fastest person to have climbed all these mountains in almost 8 years and I try to do it in 7 months. Project Possible, "says the 36-year-old mountaineer who uses oxygen bottles in the" death zone ".

Unknown to the small world of Himalayanism until recently, Nims has gradually attracted the attention of his peers and the media in recent months, as he conquered with phenomenal stamina and speed the culminating heights of the planet.

Originally, many thought the company physically and logistically impossible, given the window of ultra-tight time that leaves no room for hazard or turn around. Before the first summits, "everyone laughed in my face," Nims told AFP.

One of his secrets? "Discipline", he answers in his English tinged with British and Nepali accents.

"It's about trusting your abilities and you always have to have a positive state of mind, because sometimes things will go wrong, the plans will not work out the way you want, or as you would like to think. despite all that, you can make the impossible possible. "

- 'It makes everything relative' -

His sprint-marathon in rarefied oxygen atmosphere begins in April on Annapurna (Nepal, 8.091m), which he reached the summit on April 23rd.

Without breath, in lack of sleep, jumping from one base camp to the next by helicopter, climbing some mountains with a line without stopping at intermediate camps, Nims then enchained the famous Nepali summits: Dhaulagiri (8.167m), Kanchenjunga (8.586m), Everest (8.848m), Lhotse (8.516m) and Makalu (8.485m).

A few weeks of rest later, it attacks in July the five "8,000" of Pakistan, including the formidable K2 (8,611m) and Nanga Parbat (8,126m). At the end of September, he added Cho Oyu (China, 8,188m) and Manaslu (Nepal, 8,163m).

His project then stumbles against the closure of Shishapangma. The obstacle was finally lifted this week, after the Nepalese government pleaded its case with China.

More "small" of the "8.000" and little frequented, the Shishapangma is considered less difficult technically but its route leaves its climbers very exposed to avalanches. The mountain has cost the lives of many seasoned mountaineers.

Coming from a modest family in a village in northwestern Nepal, Nims spent 16 years in the Gurkhas units of the British army, which he recently left to launch himself body and soul into the mountains.

"Sometimes you feel invincible, as if you were the best, as if you were cool, but when I go to the mountains, it makes me all relativize and that's why I started mountaineering", he explains.

With its history, Nims hopes to inspire and encourage the emergence of new Nepalese mountaineers: "There are so many better climbers (than me) who have not had an opportunity." I hope that many young people, even some some of our sherpas brothers, will come out of the woods and probably break my record. "

"This is just the beginning," he concludes.

© 2019 AFP