KATHMANDU: Renowned mountaineer Nirmal (Nims) Purja has achieved another milestone in high-altitude climbing, completing his 57th successful ascent of an 8,000-meter peak.

Of his 57 summits across the world’s highest mountains, 29 have been completed without the use of supplemental oxygen, further highlighting his high-altitude endurance and technical expertise.

With this latest achievement, Purja is now just one peak away from completing his ambitious “Hat-Trick Project”—a monumental campaign to scale all 14 of the world’s 8,000-meter mountains three times each, alongside completing the Seven Summits (the highest peaks on each of the seven continents) three times.

Cho Oyu remains the final 8,000-meter peak needed to seal the unprecedented triple-crown feat.

Purja, a former British Gurkha and Special Boat Service (SBS) operative, gained worldwide fame in 2019 after scaling all 14 of the world’s highest peaks in under seven months, a feat documented in the film 14 Peaks: Nothing Is Impossible.