Team Nimsdai, consisting of six climbers, was led by Purja, a former Nepalese soldier and British special forces operator, who – after retiring from the army – erupted on the climbing scene in 2019 when he hit all 14 peaks of 8,000 meters in six months. and six days, which shaved off the world record for more than seven years.
Purja is Magar, not Sherpa, but he formed a team that included five Sherpa climbers. The team includes Geljen Sherpa, who climbed several Purples of Himalayas in 2019, and Mingma David Sherpa, best known for rescuing 52 climbers from the slopes of Everest in 2016 in a single season.
Mingma G, a Sherpa climber who has climbed Everest five times, climbed K2 twice and all the 8,000-meter world peaks before turning 30, led a separate team of Sherpa climbers.
Together, they and a team of local Pakistani porters dragged 70 camp tents, six dining tents, and 30 specially designed high tents on a spectacular 60-mile weekly trek through the snow to pull the base camp to approximately 17,000 feet. They also packed thousands of yards of rope, dozens of ice screws, rock pitons, supplemental oxygen and kerosene, 360 pounds of meat and 400 pounds of chocolate, cookies and energy bars.
It was decided before their arrival that all the climbers at the base camp would follow the standard Abruzzi route that winter. On December 26, Purja and his team stopped their suitcases, tents, and four-day food and climbed the 40-degree slope to Camp I at 20,013 feet to begin their first four-day high-altitude rotation to acclimatize. to the conditions. The next day they moved to 21,982 feet to Camp II where they pitched tents under rock lines that provided little shelter in the howling wind.
On December 28, Purja’s radio chirped. Team Mingma G was restoring lines to the mountain slope that all the teams could use during the winter season. And they needed help if they were to complete runs up to Camp III. Four members of Team Nimsdai were to be spent and came down to base camp, but Purja and Mingma Tenzi pushed up to 23,000 feet to lend a hand. When everyone returned to base camp on New Year’s Eve, Purja had his fingers pinched, and two Nepalese teams joined forces.