Skardu (Pakistan) (AFP)
His previous feat in 2019 had stunned the mountain world, without, however, completely unanimous.
His decisive role in the first winter ascent of K2 sweeps the last reserves and consecrates the Nepalese Nirmal Purja as a living legend of mountaineering.
At the end of the afternoon on January 16, "Nims", its diminutive, and nine Nepalese mountaineers crossed as one man and singing their national anthem the last few meters leading to the top of K2, the second highest mountain of the planet (8,611 m) and the only "8,000" that had never been climbed in winter.
For Nepal and its exceptional climbers, too long confined to the role of luxury assistants to foreign climbers, the time for recognition had finally come.
But none of this probably would have been possible without Nirmal Purja.
"To succeed in a mission as important as this, you need a reason to exist," he told AFP in Skardu, gateway to the Karakoram massif in Pakistan, after being helicoptered. with his team by the Pakistani army from the K2 base camp.
Known for decades for their aptitude for high mountains, the Nepalese had never yet placed a single climber on a first winter ascent of an "8,000" and dreamed of entering their country on this list.
- "Very determined" -
The only member of the team who was not of Sherpa ethnicity - he is a Magar -, Nirmal Purja, 38, was the driving force behind the final ascent on the "wild mountain", where temperatures can exceed in winter. -60 ° C.
Some of his teammates, chilled with cold, were very close to giving up.
He convinced them to keep going and was the only one to reach the top without using oxygen.
"He is very determined. When he says something, he does it," the other leader of the group, Mingma Gyalje Sherpa, told AFP.
The two men were initially in two different teams, before joining forces in the service of their country.
Raised in a village in southern Nepal far from the mountains, into a modest family, "Nims" suddenly appeared on the world mountaineering scene, after spending six years among the army's Gurkhas. British and ten in the "Special boat service", an elite unit of the Royal Navy, serving in particular in Afghanistan.
In November 2019, he had climbed the 14 peaks over 8,000 m, with oxygen, in six months and six days, breaking several speed records.
His project was initially considered impossible by many mountaineers.
This breathtaking performance was praised by his peers.
But its use of oxygen, fixed ropes, helicopters to go from one base camp to another had also aroused criticism from purists, who had denounced a spectacle mountaineering, far from the original spirit of the explorers. .
- "History will decide" -
A few days later, he again raised eyebrows when he helped mountaineers from Kuwait to deploy a giant flag of their country at the top of Ama Dablam in the Everest region of Nepal.
Now sponsored by a major soda brand, he embarked on the K2 project at the end of 2020. His presence has prompted renowned mountaineers to recall that in their eyes a real winter first could only be done without oxygen, considered a form of doping.
The success of the Nepalese has been hailed from all quarters.
But some voices were also immediately raised, like that of the Polish star Adam Bielecki, to emphasize that they had resorted to oxygen.
When three days later "Nims" revealed that he had not used one, Bielecki bowed and showed him his "respect".
"We don't care what the world says (...) The people who have climbed these great mountains know who the real heroes are," Nirmal Purja replied to AFP, preferring not to maintain the controversy.
"History will decide, we don't need to claim anything."
"It was a human endeavor. No human had climbed K2 in winter before. We did and we represent humanity," he said.
Not having been able to descend from the top of K2 by paragliding as he dreamed of - his equipment was blown away - "Nims" already has his eyes fixed on future adventures.
"There is always something to come, something bigger, always limits to be overcome. It's human, it's what we do."
© 2021 AFP