The Joe Rogan Experience - #1790 - Nims Purja

Episode Date: March 9, 2022

Nims is the multi world record breaking mountaineer who climbed all 14 of the world’s ‘Death Zone’ peaks over 8,000m in just 6 months and 6 days. He was part of the first winter ascent of the ��Savage Mountain’ K2. His film, "14 Peaks: Nothing Is Impossible," is out now on Netflix, as is his best-selling book, "Beyond Possible." Nims is a UNEP Mountain Advocate and founder of the Nimsdai Foundation.

The Joe Rogan Experience. around no missing around i found out about your documentary from my friend cam haynes he's the one who told me about it he uh he texted me and he said it's fucking incredible and cam is uh he does a lot of uh ultra marathons and he does like those 240 mile runs those kind of things so he's one of those guys like he appreciates someone doing something completely insane and so he he turned me on to it he had glowing recommendations so i had to i had to check it out it's it's incredible what you did the documentary is insane well i must say thanks cam first thing first and here we are and uh did you did you enjoy the film i did i enjoyed it very much it's uh it's incredibly impressive and um when you know you just came here from England right

so you're telling us so you should explain to me like why why you're in England yes so there is a big thing called the Kirk has going back into 206 years ago the British when they were trying to run over the world take over the world the British Empire was in India and when they were trying to run over the world, take over the world, the British umpire was in India. And when they were in India, they were trying to take over Nepal as well because it's a neighboring country. But, you know, they didn't have a luck. They didn't have a chance.

So at that point, what did the British government said was, hey, you know, we'll not attack Nepal anymore. But you know what? Is there any chance we can have, you know, all these, you know, brave guys, you know, fighting for us? And at that point, the prime minister, the government of Nepal were really, you know, sick of, you know, this heavy force coming with the artilleries, you know, the big guns and attacking. So they were like, you know what? Yeah, we're happy.

So they made some sort of a truce. Yeah. And then Nepal joined in with England. Yes, yes. So now it's 206 years and it's a big thing for us. So I grew up dreaming to be a Gurkha. So that was my like childhood dream. And just to give an example, Joe, when I joined for the GARCA, when I went for the selection,

there were like 32,000 people applying for it. Wow. And only 230 can make it. So you can do the ratio how tough it is. But yeah, you know what? A lot of people say like, N you know you know you are here and you know you are successful and all that but you know my my success is is not a coincidence going back where i was and specifically you know coming from really humbling background

i forget everything we didn't even have like flip-flops you know forget that the food we didn't even have like to eat meat we had to wait for like a big festival like christmas so coming from that super poverty to to where i am you know sometimes people say oh yeah nim's is this and that you know it took me 38 years to be to be where i am yeah people in america that aren't aware of the real poverty in the world and what people like to call the 1%. People always like to use that term. But in America, the 1%, we think of very, very wealthy people. If you look at the 1% of the world, if you make $34,000, you're in the top 1% of the world, which is incredible.

I mean it's a very small amount of money. It's almost like, what is $34,000 in America technically? Is it lower middle class? Is it lower class? Like, I mean, you're struggling. You're struggling in America if you make $34,000 a year. Wow, but that is quite a lot of money for the rest of the world. For the country and Nepal specifically.

Yeah. So I was going back to this story. May I finish it? Yeah, please. So, you know, what I believe in is making things happen. There's no excuses. Right. So my two brothers were in the Geyikakas and once they joined the gayakas

they were like you know what i want my sister and my brother to go to the boarding school so they sent us to boarding school um and my brothers are like my father like my elder brother is 18 and a half year older than me so wow so in this school like we are not allowed to leave the compound but I really wanted to be like in the Gurkha so when I was like you know 15 16 year old I used to wake up at one o'clock at night and I used to go like you know without permission I used to run 30 kilometers in the morning before like anybody finds out and I come and and pretend like i'm waking from my bed and and i still you know walk with uh toothbrush and toothpaste pretending i have never left the compound but i had to make it work because i knew that the selection is so tough you know how old

were you when you were doing this i was 16 i started when i was 15 so a year of training so you just had it in your head like listen i'm gonna be in a gurkha i'm gonna be a gurkha i have to get in crazy shape so i'm gonna work out when no one knows yeah yeah because you know if the teacher would find out that i have left the compound may they in nepal they beat like you know they beat the hell out of you so really yeah and was there any other way that you could train is there any look not really because you start your school, if you stay in the hostel from 7 o'clock in the morning and you have to have your presence over there and then you finish around 4 o'clock in the evening.

So it's really tight schedule. You study about 14 different subjects. So yeah, there wasn't really a way. And many of my friends wouldn't know. And many of my friends wouldn't probably do that. But I knew that I had to push extra. And I had to break that rules and that normal rules and regulation of school to achieve my goal. And, yeah, in 2003, I managed to join the GACAs. And from there, like like the story goes on.

Wow. So that was 2003. And that's documented also in the film where your rifle got hit with a bullet. Yeah. So I'll tell you that story. So in 2003, I was in the GYKAS. Then, you know, coming from Nepal, we never know about the Special Forces. You know, so I joined in the Geyikas, and then we started hearing about names, you know.

There's like, you know, a thing called, you know, UK Special Forces, like SAS and SBS. So SAS is equivalent to Delta in U.S. military. SBS is equivalent to Siltim 6 in U.S. military. And then they were saying, you know what, these guys are like the badass. They're like the real James Bond. And I was like hearing, I was like, and at that point, honestly, I didn't even know what real James Bond was. So I started obviously looking more into it doing more research and wow and then i found about you know the the special boat service which is uh i

mentioned you know like equivalent to your silt m6 so they operate from air water in underwater and land everything so i was like yes i want to be part of that cool group. And when I first talked about it, you know, all my friends, including my seniors, including captains, and even some of the senior rank that I look up to, like, you know, where I was like, you know what? I want to be like those guys, you know, some inspiring figures. And they were saying, Nims, it is impossible because no one has ever made this you know in the history of the gurkhas and i was like really and and i said to them look you know it's possible and they were like and they started making joke out of me then it comes to a certain point where like you don't talk about it anymore you start doing things so and i will tell you

this training regime, Joe. I used to wake up at 1 o'clock in the morning. What time did you go to bed? I'll tell you now, mate. So, 1 o'clock I wake up in the morning. Then I carry 75 pounds in my back and I run 20 kilometers. With 75 pounds on your back, you were running? Running 20 kilometers.

Then I arrive at the military barracksacks then i start my normal military running that could be you know eight miler run or you know training or whatever that military you know physical training is i do that then because i was with the engineers that means you know i was on um this in a kind of like building any structure finisher so the whole day we're like we're plastering the wall and doing that. So it's full-on labor work. And in the evening, I run that 20 kilometers back again, clean fatigue. So clean fatigue means no bargain, but I run that distance back again to my house. Quick foot.

I go to the gym, and then I cycle 64 kilometers on the push bike this is one day one day and then and then you know look coming from Nepal is a landlocked country I had never seen swimming is my like weakest thing and I front crawl swim 100 land in 25 meter pool and I did like that for six months six days I never said ah today you know it's. I never said, oh, today, you know, it's raining. I never said today I'm tired. I never said today, you know, there's snow outside. Never.

And it was like that. Where did you get that kind of determination? Where do you think that came from? You know, I truly believe that to break this barrier of, you know, Agarca, you know, to get into, I knew that I have to put more. And you know a gurkha you know to to get into i knew that i have to put more and you know what the only big thing the the friends were saying was like names you know it's not only about physical you need to have you know a great sense of humor you need to have you know common sense and all that so i was like okay then i start looking into english sense of humor all right and i was like you know so when you go on the selection, they will just like, the instructor, the DS, we call it,

directing staff would call it, hey, come here, fucking tell me a joke. And the Nepalese joke is completely different to English sense of humor. So every day I used to prepare different jokes. And I used to go in front and I used to say like different jokes. And this is how much I was prepared. And this is how much I was prepared. And this is how much I was willing to give.

And yeah, in 200 years of history, I became the first Gurkha ever to pass the selection for SBS. That's amazing. But what I'm getting at is when did you develop this kind of discipline and determination? Is this something that you had from the time when you were a boy? Do you know where this comes from? It was very unusual. What you're saying sounds so crazy. I know you did it because I know you climbed the 14 peaks.

I know you did it. By the way, that's the name of the documentary. It's on Netflix. It's amazing. I can't recommend it enough. It's really excellent. But where did you get that kind of discipline and determination? You know what, Joe?

I don't think it's a discipline. It's a self-discipline. And that's what is required to be where I am today. But that is discipline. That's what I'm saying. No, no. What I mean by that is, you know, like, yes, I like that you have to be disciplined. Right.

For example, you know, if your parents is waking you up at six o'clock, you still wake up. If you're in the ring or if you're training, you go and you still train, but your coach is there and all that. That's not good enough. You know, what I mean by self-discipline and equally with that, the self-motivation thing that I really believe was key in my part is being able to wake up when no one is looking at me when no one is waking me up right being able to go and train when no one is looking at me you know so the self-motivation and that self-discipline is is where I really started looking into and believing that, Nims, if you really want to do something in terms of breaking the boundaries and in terms of reaching your full potential, you have to be different.

And I start, you know, kind of planting that into my brain, and this is how, you know, I have been where I am today. So you just sort of willed yourself into the state of discipline, knowing that if you were going to achieve great things, you had to be able to work when no one was looking. Exactly. Exactly. And so you just learned this as a boy? You figured this out as a young man? I think it was a kind of development as a kid. So when I was a kid, I wanted to be a gaya card.

And then obviously that wasn't the same level of training as I did when I went for the Special Forces selection. But it's like build-up as I grew up through the age, and I think it's that dream to be able to see yourself in that career stage. So when I was in the Gurkha, I just dreamed to be, when I was a kid, I wanted to be a Gurkha. Then when I was a Gurkha, I wanted to be that special forces. And you know what, Joe? I never used to drink anything until I was 25 years old.

I was that much, you know, I would say ambitious and motivated. So when I passed the selection for SBS, I was like, you know what? This is the biggest thing I could do in my life. I'm a military guy, and I'm going to drink. And then, obviously, it went obviously different. I'm not alcoholic, though. So you started becoming a drinker after that? Well, I started, obviously, celebrating differently and enjoying and all that.

Yeah, as you've seen on that movie on K2 and all that, I think which we will come a bit later on. Yeah, yeah. As you've seen on that movie on K2 and all that, I think which we will come a bit later on. Yeah. Yeah. Did you have any role models or anyone that you looked up to that was also disciplined when you were younger that you drew strength from? Joe, look, I came from this background where we didn't even have a TV. You know, what we read in the book is limited text. And it's all like, you know, that governmental text, you know, stuff.

So, but as I grew older, as I joined, you know, the Gurkhas, then the special forces, there were like really two people who I look up to. And the one was Muhammad Ali. And the second was Bruce Lee. And then two people. That's awesome. And a lot of people say, Nims, you went into the mountaineering. You know, who inspired you?

And I was like, no one, because I didn't even thought I would go and climb until I was 30-year-old. Yeah. So when you were young and you were running, when you were 16 years old, you'd get up at one o'clock in the morning. That was all just self-motivation. You didn't know anybody that was like you that did anything like that. That's amazing. I just wanted to fulfill my dream to be a Gurkha. And I think that was my motivation then. It's incredible. It's incredible that you had that much discipline early on. And when I'm hearing about you running with 75 pounds on your back,

all I'm thinking is, like, how did you not destroy your knees? Mate, there's only one superhuman. That's right, he's standing in front of his brother. That's a lot of weight to run 20 kilometers with. I think what it got me or what it balanced the whole thing was my swimming element. Because I used to swim right. And then even though my training was super intense and it's like, you know, the gravity, the friction part. But unknowingly, I was doing, you know, 100 laps.

And I think because, you know, that is more for like flexibility and all this stuff. So I think that just happened naturally hmm well that's it's incredible so when did you decide that you were gonna do this 14 peaks thing and then film this and like what was was the moment where this idea came into your head so Jody obviously you obviously you asked me two questions. Let me break down. So 2019, at this point, I served with the UK Special Forces for 10 years.

I've been around the world. I have obviously done some crazy shit, you know, that people wouldn't probably see on the movies and all that. So what happened in 2019 was I found the purpose and look just to just to even put things into perspective at this point I had served 16 years in the British military I had only six years left to get the full pension so you know, if you look from the financial perspective, you know, I'm really there to get the full pension. But then I got this idea, like the 14 picks. So why I'm doing this? So I had two purposes. The first one was, look, doesn't matter where you come from, what your

background is, whatever that is, you can literally show the world nothing is impossible, no excuses. And the second one was, look, the Nepalese climbing community, the Sherpas, are the king of a thousanders, but we never had the right, you know, like, credits. And I wanted to raise the name of the Neblis Climbers and those two purpose gave me the strength so what happened after that was straightaway I went to the HR I put my resignation and people went mental they're like you know my brother specifically like names you know what you're so selfish. Because at this point, I used to send, you know, a chunk of my salary every month to my mom and dad. I really believe that in our parents, you know, they look after us when we're like kids and vulnerable.

And as a give back to them, when they get older, they're also invulnerable. They cannot work and all that. So I was always, you know, like sending them money. So when I decided about this project and when I put the resignation, I know that there's no money going to them. My brother went really mental. He was like, Nims, you know, you are the most strongest

financial contributor in our family. And you know what? None of the Gurkhas have ever been there. You should complete your career. And I was like, no, brother. And we didn't talk for three months, me and my brother. And he's like my father. He's the one who sent me to boarding school. I'm going to slow you down here. So you had this idea and because of this idea, you decided to resign? Yeah. had this idea and because of this idea you decided to resign yeah and this idea of climbing the 14 peaks when when it first came into your head what was your goal it was just to elevate the nepalese climbers was it to raise money was it to raise awareness no so it was again literally to show

the world that nothing is impossible there's no excuses excuses. But that's not a career, right? It's not a career. So you're quitting your career to show the world that nothing is impossible. I didn't only quit my career. My brother, I put everything on the line. And I'll go in details what I mean by that. So I resigned, and it was really tough. Look, I came from this completely different role, special forces background.

I had never experience of doing the fundraising. And when I first started talking about the project, people were like, Nims, it's not possible. So for those people who doesn't understand what I was trying to do was, so there are 14 mountains in the world above 8,000 meters. And 8,000 meters is the death zone peak. And the fastest someone... Excuse me, 8,000 meters is what? It's a death zone. It's a death zone.

So the reason why it's called death zone is from that altitude, nobody can survive. The human body is literally dying. So that's why it's called the death zone peak, because all those 14 are above a thousand meters. So you can only be up there for a very small amount of time. Yeah. And so the fastest time was a week, sort of eight years. To be precise, it was seven years, 11 months and 14 days. And the guy who tried to break that record broke it only by one week. So that was that. And then I said, I'll do that in seven months. And people were like, no, it's impossible.

Again, you know, those guys who who are listening just to put this into simple perspective so if the record for full marathon is now two hours what i was saying there then was i'm going to do that in 10 minutes and that's why nobody believed in and and so it was crazy you know i used to wake up at like four o'clock, write the email, take early train to London, meet all the entrepreneurs, corporate organizers and piece them, repeat the same thing, come back home, quick food. Then I write again in the follow-up email, hey, nice to meet you today and follow-up email. Let me stop you there. Hold on. So you have this idea.

You don't have any experience in filmmaking idea You don't have any experience in filmmaking You don't have any experience in the media You have no experience in doing anything in the public eye No Everything you've done has been Just grinding as a Gurkha Grinding as a special forces operator This is what you're doing

And then you just decide I'm gonna do this and I to make a movie about it. Yeah. So who do you contact? How do you even start that process? Yeah, so it was tough. So the first thing was to get the money to go and climb. How did you even know how much money you needed?

So the high altitude mountaineering is quite expensive. So, you know, the high altitude mountaineering is quite expensive. Let's say even if somebody want to do this, the whole 14 peaks, it will roughly cost around $2 million. $2 million. $2 million. And because I was going as a very like bare minimum because I don't need that much support. You know, I put roughly under a million margin. And you know what, brother? Nothing.

There was no funding after one year of like going everywhere. And then what I did the first thing was. When you say go everywhere, like how do you even start? Like, I don't have any experience in that. So I don't know. Who would I contact to fund a giant project where I'm going to climb 14 peaks. I'll just give you this example. So one of the examples was, you know, I wrote a handwritten letter to, who is the owner of Virgin? I Google it. Richard Branson. Yeah. Yes.

And, you know, I write that in a very long letter, full handwritten, and I cover that and put those in a stamp so that it will get his attention. And nothing came. So I was just going after everything, anything from outdoor companies, outdoor clothing. And this is already after you'd already quit your job. I have already quit. So I have already made the decision.

And that's why it was so stressful because now all my family are suffering because of my decision my poor wife she was like you know and my for the first time you know like I had to suffer through this kind of you know like this stress look my you know I have I have done HR I have been deployed all over the world. I have operated in very, like, that split seconds kind of, you know, like, environment where your decision has to be, like, bummers. And that doesn't stress me

out. But here, it was mental. How were you making a living? It was like that. How were you making money? So, at this point, we didn't have money. No money. So, how were you eating? How were you paying your rent? your rent so whatever we had a bit of saving and all that it was there so you were burning through your savings while trying to achieve this goal yeah yeah and so what was the first thing that hit that let

you know that this is possible I believed in you no no that's not what I mean what was the first thing where someone said yes, where someone said, I'll give you money? No. So what happened was the funding was really, really struggling. And what I did was, you know what? People don't believe it because, of course, in their eyes, like what even Red Bull says, it's like swimming to the moon.

So even when they say things like that, so of course people were like, Bull says it's like swimming to the moon you know so even when they say things like that so of course you know people were like oh it's too much stuff then what I did was I remortgaged my house and put every money I can put into this project and that was like only like less than I would say seven percent of the whole funding and this is before anybody's contributed yeah Yeah, yeah. So you have no investors. Nothing. You don't even have Netflix.

Forget Netflix. And I'll come into that story later on, brother. So at this point, and eventually I started doing co-funding. I had like no social media. So in March 2019, when I resigned from the Special Forces, I had no idea. But I didn't even have Facebook, Instagram, anything. Nothing. Nothing. So I had to learn how to do this, all this hashtag and everything.

It would drive me nuts. Do you do all your social media? Now still, yes. So you reached out to me from social media. That's actually you. Yeah. Because I never know. I'm like, this might be some.

That was me. Yeah. I never know because I think it might be some assistant somewhere, a PR team. Yeah. I have a team now, but I still do my thing because then it's authentic. I do too. I do my thing too. Wow.

Yeah. Wow. So going back into that one, Joe, what I really believed in was, okay, people don't believe now, but if I start climbing this mountain in the manner and, like, you know, I would say sponsorship came in, a few money from GoFundMe. And at that point, when I fly to Nepal, I had 15% of the total funding. So the first mountain I choose was Annapurna. So in Annapurna is like where every four climbers who try to climb, three dies trying. So that was my first mountain. And you know what? This was the first time ever in the history of my life you said every four climbers three die yeah isn't it every four

climbers one die no that's not on annapurna this is that's really this is annapurna that's k2 so most people die yeah jesus this is that's your first one first one and this my guess if you were gonna die you're gonna die quick let's get it over with that's so nuts what now what are they dying from are they dying from from avalanches it's the mountain where you see like you know like avalanches crumbling every like you know every minute is so crazy every four four climbers, three die? Yeah. That sounds so insane. Mate, that's crazy, that mountain.

Jamie's looking it up right now. He's freaking out too. No one's quicker at looking shit up than Jamie, by the way. Yeah, yeah. And you know what? This mountain, you know, the big thing what I was trying to say, Joe, was. How do you spell that mountain? It's Annapurna.

Annapurna. Annapurna, yes. So how many people have climbed it, all told? I'm not going to lie. I have no clue. Here it goes. 32%. There have been fewer than 200 summits of the mountain, and 61 people have lost their lives.

So it's not quite that much. No, you know what? Because I changed that statistics in 2019. When I went there and set the fixed lines with my team, more than, I think, 50 people submitted in 2019. Right, but here's the stat. Every three people

reach the top, one person dies. So you got it reversed. That makes more sense. Okay. It's close enough. It's still very, very dangerous. It's not like it's less impressive. Okay, you know what, Joe? I'm not going to argue on that.

It's fucking Jamie. He's a wizard. I'm telling you. In the last two years, I think there are around 80 summits. I can't believe there's one. What the fuck is wrong with these people? Stay home. So that is insane, though, that that many people die yeah yeah and

you know entrepreneurs and you know what this was probably the first time in my history where i was out of my shape because every energy i had was on the computers writing email and i was oh you're out of shape as you see on the movie um i was 10 kg heavier. I hadn't trained at all. And I was like, you know what? You have insane cardio. That's one of the things from the movie that was so evident. You have very, very unusual cardio. Do you think that some of that is you're just gifted?

Or do you think that's from the training that you had when you were a young boy do you think you just like made yourself have insane cardio from those runs you did when you're 16 years old because when they were doing that vo2 max test on you yeah that's insane man i mean your cardio is like elite of the elite yeah i think it's it's that muscle memory you know where i have been i have been training you know since i was kid and you know, where I have been training, you know, since I was a kid. Yeah. And, you know, like non-stop. And obviously, which, you know, we discussed earlier. I think that's what it made me who I am today.

You know, the hard work, the training and training and training. But, Joe, you know, like a lot of people think probably, you know, like, oh, yeah, Nims is from Nepal. He's from the mountains and he climbed all this peak. You know, I grew up in the most flat and the hottest part of Nepal. How flat is it? What's the altitude there? It's almost like sea level, and it is like probably 45 degrees hot Celsius. Oh, that's very hot.

That's very hot. Even the flies would die on the road. Yeah, what is 45 degrees Celsius? That's like 100. Google it, buddy. I want to say That's like 100. Google it, buddy. I want to say that's like 110. Is it higher? Yeah, 113.

113? Oh, my God. It's crazy, man. And it's that hot. Sometimes, you know, those lifts. And it's like sea level. One of the things they were saying about the Sherpas is that they're so adapted to that area. Environment, yeah. Yeah. To altitude that it's literally changed their genetics there's this they did this

study on some of the Sherpas that assist the people on Mount Everest in particular and they said that they're so extraordinary that they were studying them they're saying that's literally had an effect on their dna like living there and and doing that and that this expression of being in that place being in that environment has just made them just incredible specimens yeah i think that's you know yeah that makes sense because it's like you adapting right the human beings you know we have been able to survive since in our existence and it's pretty incredible and then dinosaurs haven't done because they can adapt and if you live on

that altitude yes that's correct i think the dinosaurs probably were adapting but a lot of other shit went down i don't think it's like the dinosaurs were lazy they didn't train hard enough i think there was like a big rock that had something to do with that but but it's still extraordinary that you know like there was this thing about these Sherpas where they were able to do things with no oxygen. That where the people that had tried to go there, that's like, there's so much recreational climbing, particularly in Everest. And you documented that in that crazy photo.

We actually showed that photo the other day on the podcast where it shows you in this insane line of people trying to get to the top it seems like that had to be the weirdest of the climbs was that the weirdest one can i can i tell you something joe i think i did even like send you a message in anger like joe you have posted my picture without credits that was long time ago and you were like sorry bro it was from New York And I was like Yeah but you know It was from the New York Times Yeah Yeah New York Times

And you know what So there's one credit Or there's one photo rather Like that is crazy That they do it that way Like how many people is that? It looks like a hundred people Yeah

So the one that I took Look at that one right there Is the other one on the right Yeah Yeah that's the one that we showed Like that picture How many humans is that? So I think probably around, I would say 100 plus.

So if one of those guys falls, does everybody go like a pile of dominoes? That's not good, right? Well, the thing is nobody's going to fall. Nobody? Listen, people fall. Joe, can I put things into perspective? Please do. And I think it's my chance to correct this story.

Okay. So, you know, when that picture came out, I heard a lot of negativity around the world. And you know what? The human beings, we are so, so negative. And I think even in the work space nowadays, specifically because of that picture, if some of the work colleagues summit Everest, we'll say, oh, now you know what Everest is like, you know, every tourist going summit. But let me give you this example,

everyone who's listening to this, you know, podcast. There are more than 2,000 people running London Marathon. But just because that number is high, will that marathon be easy? No. So it's still, it's Everest. It's still tough. Now moving into this specific story, what happened was 2019, it was unfortunately only one day where we had the good weather. So there was a window of opportunity that everybody had to capitalize on. Yes, everybody had to go.

And look, imagine- So that's unusual is what you're saying. That's very unusual. So imagine like if you're on Everest Base Camp, you're staying at 5,400 meters altitude for two months, and you have to train to be able to go and summit, as in like the acclimatization. So you have to go to Camp 1, you sleep So you have to go to Camp 1, you sleep. You have to go to Camp 2, you sleep. Touch Camp 3, get back down.

And that takes five weeks. And then now you wait for the summit weather window. And if there's like one summit opportunity, ladies and gentlemen, look, not every people who go to Everest are rich. People sometimes put all of their savings into Everest because it's a very expensive, you know, expedition. People take loan like what I did in 2016. So people want to get that opportunity. And that's why it was particular in 2019 that happened.

But nobody really died of that. But obviously, the big newspaper wanted to sell their headlines. So they were saying, oh, all this and that. All this and that. But that photo is crazy. It is. I mean, if you're just a person looking at that, I know you took it. We talked about it.

Yeah. But if you look at that photo, I mean, that is an insane image. There it is, New York Times, 2019, May. So when you were there And you took that photo You had to know that that's incredibly unusual, right? So what was the negativity? People were saying that too many people are going to Everest

Too many people on Everest And you know like all this stuff That criticism has existed for years Because Particularly because of the human feces That's left up there Yes Right?

Yeah There's a lot of human waste that's left up on the mountain. Yeah. Along with bodies, right? They leave the bodies up there, which is kind of crazy. So to that note. I had a bit about that back in the day. To that note, though, I have announced the big mountain cleanup project.

So we cleaned Manaslu last year in September. It's a thousand meter peak. This year, we're going to go and clean all the rubbish from Gamfo, which is at the death zone. It's at 1,000 meters. So there are loads of rubbish. So you're going to go to clean the rubbish at the death zone. Yeah. How much time can you spend at the death zone before you, you know, die?

For me, I can live there, too. You can live there? Yeah. It's a name sign. So most people, forget about you superman but most people how much time can they spend at the dead zone so it all depends um sometime you know people people literally die because if they haven't climatized properly but you can't really live there joe you know you you you are literally dying and it's you have to see like for example

the ditch and how i can i can explain to everybody explain to everybody is like you're drowning in the sea. Like everybody's in survival situation. Right. But some of us, we can outperform that. You can swim longer. We can see, like, you know, like I can, as soon as I get there, I can say, okay, he's in his, like, you know, in his limit. He's in our limit. So I can see from that big, overarching umbrella point of view.

And, yeah, because it's the element. It's like really thin air. Well, you talked about it in the film where you got, there's cerebral edema from being at altitude. Yeah. And you were having hallucinations yeah that so that's what starts the is that what starts the the process of people dying is that like the beginning stages of it yeah so i think that's a bit later is this so how it happens is so the one that you talk about is we call it his that's high altitude cerebral edema yeah so that

means you know you develop a fluid in your brain altitude cerebral edema. So that means, you know, you develop a fluid in your brain. And then after that, you know, of course, you know, the brain doesn't work properly. So how long does it take for you to recover from that? You have to go down as quickly as possible. The faster you get down, the faster you go down, there's more chances of survival and the only cure for that is to go down yes and so is it just a factor of how much time you spent at that high altitude is that what gave you yes and then so you were just for my story for my story it was different because on annapurna we had summited we got back down and we were supposed to go and climb the Halagri. So the second mountain on my list.

The weather was perfect. I was mean to go there. But then I called this message saying, hey, Nims, Dr. Chin is live above Kamphor. Say that again? So Dr. Chin, he was, you know. There was a guy that was stuck up there. There was a guy who was stuck up. Right, and that's in the film.

That's in the film. So look, I have never left anyone behind in my career in the Special Forces and in the GACAs. And I know for this project, I had put everything down on the line. But I knew that, you know, I was in my ability to go and save him. So I put again, I put all of my mission into risk again. So me and my team went, we rescued him and we took him to the hospital. But because of that, we missed the good weather in Dhaulagri. So normally I climb one 8,000 meter peak in 18 hours.

Dhaulagri, it took us five days, non-stop. We didn't sleep at all. We're like keep pushing and then you can see on the film as well. The weather was terrible. And after the summit of Daolagri, we got back to Kathmandu and there was one Chinese like billionaire who said, Nims, I might go and climb Kanchanjunga, which is my third mountain. So it was like, would you guide me? And I was like, okay, because we didn't have the money. Can I stop you? Because we're going too far.

I want to go back to Hays. Yeah, so I'm going to tell you that. So he said like, okay, can you guide me? And I was like, okay, so we didn't have the money. So I said, okay, I can guide you. So, you know, obviously all my Chinese friends, they started bringing this, you know, drinks and we partied till six o'clock.

Now day five plus, I haven't slept. At six o'clock now day five plus i haven't slept at six o'clock he bailed out so then i'm going into this so he decided not to not to go so i had to go anyway so he was drinking with you yeah yeah i was drinking and so you know fully hungover i went to to the airport and i had to go to andchenjunga and we climbed Kanchenjunga that was probably one of the was one of the craziest you know it was so cold like so sleepy we used to put snow in our armpit you know slap ourselves all that so to get into your point so I haven't slept for six days summited got back down and at 8,450 meters we found a climber he was out of his oxygen so I got my oxygen out and I give him immediately the oxygen so I'm now out of oxygen okay so just to put into into the science here normally you climb without oxygen when you are acclimatized I was never acclimatized to that

altitude so let's say on everest or even in k2 you have to sleep at camphor without oxygen so that your body is acclimatized you are building more red blood cells i didn't have done that so giving my oxygen i knew that i could do it but i knew it was a very very high risk so i gave him my oxygen and we started bringing him down then another 100 meter down we found another guy oh jesus so we started bringing him down. Then another 100 meters down, we found another guy. Oh, Jesus. So we started bringing these two people down. And then there were people at Camp 4,

more than, I think, 60 people at Camp 4, who went to, like, Summit Pus, like, going from Camp 1, they sleep, Camp 2, they sleep, Camp 3, they sleep, Camp 4, they sleep, Summit, and then back to Camp 4. And they were not in the situation like us at all. You know, our, our, our story is completely different. It's like fast track. We haven't slept for six days and all that.

So I, I went onto the radio and I begged for help. Is there any chance? Can somebody bring us the oxygen? And nobody came, man. And, and it came to that point where people started turning their radio off. And they just let you die up there. Yeah. And it came to that point where people started turning their radio off. They just let you die up there? Yeah.

Is it just because it's so dangerous that they weren't willing to risk their lives? Yeah, yeah. And I could get it. Look, I'm not here to blame anybody. But, you know, a lot of people say, you know, like, yeah, they're badass and all that. They can talk in the social media, but they all were at camphor You know they were earlier They were well rested And they could come and help

In another sense How far was the trek to get to you? So to come up with oxygen I would say three hours That's it? Three hours With oxygen yes And they wouldn't do it?

Nobody would come Did you talk to them when you came down? Oh maybe Nah you know Fuck you come. And it was crazy. Did you talk to them when you came down? Oh, man, nah. Fuck you, right? Yeah, it was mental. So at that point, what happened was one of my brother, Gesman Tamang, team member Sherpa, he started getting frostbite.

So I had to send him down. So now it's me and Migma David. How do you tell when someone's getting frostbite? It's so cold that you can't even feel your toes. Right? So I had to send him down because otherwise I was going to have more casualty.

Then Migma David, who is my right-hand man, is like, Nim's brother, you know, I think I'm having haste as well. I cannot even think properly. And I was like,

fuck. So I sent him back down. So now it's me and then these two guys. So we're bringing him down and then literally... then these two guys so we're like bringing him down and then literally are these two guys mobile

can they walk no we're dragging them brother so one of the guy before I sent Mi'kmaq he died in our arms the oxygen finished

literally 15 minutes later he died and that was terrible because we put so much energy you know risk our life to bring him down and he passed away.

And he passed away. And then here's you. No oxygen. No oxygen for like almost 11 hours. And then and then now I got this guy. And this is when, you know, like I started seeing things like, you know, like, you know, in the book Beyond Possible. I have mentioned like, you know, I thought he the book beyond possible i have mentioned like you know i thought it was a yeti yeah so i was really scared so i was doing that like and it's still

it's still trying to function come on nim's you know so i was looking for my even exit route how can i i run away if he comes in attack and all that so that's like you know so you really thought it was a yeti yeah yeah i was very scared i know, I have this. What did you see when you were hallucinating? Mate, it was like a big, you know, like... Giant hairy thing? Giant-like thing, you know, like what you imagine, right? Do you think that that's what the Yeti is, that it's people with high-altitude sickness and they see these things?

I really don't know. I can't comment for others, but... But doesn't that make sense? Because you saw it and you had high-altitude sickness. Yeah, yeah. So that was crazy, man. And yeah, eventually now getting into your question, did I speak to anybody? No.

I had enough with those people. Right. I got to base camp. Out of four people, we helped two survive on that day. And I went to Everest. So two survived and two died? Yeah. Wow.

Yeah. Jesus. But you're still survived and two died? Yeah. Wow. Yeah. Jesus. But you're still determined to do this? Yeah. And then, yeah, I went to Everest and then... Did you ever think of doing it with less people so that you don't have to be involved with other people that could trip you up like that? But you can't stop people going on the mountain, right?

It's the nature. Right. There's no time. No timing, nothing, and all that. You just deal with how it comes. Right. And there's always people trying to summit. Always, always. Yeah, all day long, right? Every day of the year. Every season, every season.

So people climb Everest in spring season because that's where the weather is really good. Then they climb K2 in summer. That's when the weather in Pakistan is good. And there's like a season, you know, where the weather is good and there's always like people climbing. Do people try to climb it out of season? Yeah. They climb it when the weather's bad?

Yeah. Is it a cheaper vacation? It's a bit more cheaper. Yeah, you nailed it there, man. So at this point, when you first started doing this, when you first climbed the first two peaks, did you have funding by then? Did you know? No. You didn't. Every time, you know, I go to one peak, we summit, and then there's a GoFundMe page, and then people are sharing. And, you know, a good friend of mine, you know, who was in a program called SES Who Does Win. He started posting and supporting. And then people giving 20 pounds, 30 pounds.

And eventually, as soon as I climb one mountain, there will be money to climb the second mountain. So look, the whole thing here was I wasn't only climbing this mountain, but I was managing my social media. I was doing the fundraising. I was managing the team dynamics. I was managing the team dynamics I was doing the logistics so as soon as I'm on this one I have to think about what's happening on another mountain and the big thing here is the flaming of the

project which I'll come into a bit later the what of the project the flaming Phil filming yeah thank you you know the thick accent. I thought you said flaming. So, you know, look, when I was a kid, we didn't even have a TV in the house. As a kid, I used to go around to neighbors' house to watch the television and they would say, hey, get lost. But from that point, today, I produced the biggest mountaineering film ever in the history so what i'm doing right now is not only about climbing climbing is the easiest thing i have done so the whole of the 14 picks it was my reason it was my idea we didn't even have the products and crew i was climbing and flying the drone at the same point. I was making sure that the teams were in the right place to capture the content. All of this.

So again, you know, brother, nothing is impossible. So that's the thing. And the question that you asked me before, when did Netflix come in? So when I finished the whole of the project, I had about more than 100 hours of footage in a hard drive. Before I went to Nepal, at the start of the project i had piece this to everybody can you film this nobody so when i come with the hard drive may i was in

in different part of the of the table and we did a big uh i would say um kind of like oxen who would come and and make this you know produce this movie, you know, four or five people, I decided to go with Noah because I felt like they were the right partners. And then Noah put this together. We had an amazing director, you know, Torkel Jones. You know, I think it's also his baby. Looking through 100 hours of footage and stitching them. Then Jimmy Chin, you know, from Free Solo, he came in.

So it's his wife, you know, Chai. And then we sold it to Netflix. So Jimmy, is his name Jimmy Chin? Yeah. Did he produce Free Solo? He was EP. Oh, wow. He was EP on that one.

That movie's incredible too. Yeah. Yeah. So they all came in like later on. Oh, I see. And then. So this was after the footage had already been shot. Yeah.

Right. So this is after you had completed all the peaks. Yeah. So what were you, you just had someone film it and you figured we'll just edit this later. Not someone, brother. We filmed by ourself. Yeah. Myself, my team. And because I knew that this thing has got multi layers of motivating factors.

A lot of people who want to go into the filming industry and all said, okay, because I didn't have this camera. I didn't have these. I didn't have the, you know, like, you know, Discovery, Netflix or crew signing this. Like, no, you know, you can make things happen. You just like, so it was really hard work when you are climbing in this like vertical slope

and you are flying the drone and, you know, like climbing same point but i knew that i had to do this even another tough thing was like you know the the shot with my mom when she was in hospital it was crazy because you are like saying hey guys we need to have the camera okay because but you don't feel natural because it's like acting right but? But it's not acting. Right. I have never been that part, but I was like, oh, it was so awkward, but I had to do it. So I said, you know, guys, let's get the camera out. Whatever it happens, let's shoot it.

Yeah, that's a real problem with like anytime you're trying to document reality and you have a camera, the camera just naturally changes the way people behave because they're aware that someone's watching. Yeah, and for me, we had that and there's no cut and all that. You just film the whole thing. Yeah. Like how you are doing right now. It's natural, right?

We are not doing the acting and all that, so it's natural. Everything is all good. But that's because I do it every day. If I did it just once, would be thinking how do i act natural oh you know when you get accustomed to it so do you think you were accustomed to the filming after a while or you could just be yourself because the cameras were on you so often no look the big thing was i knew that this has to be documented and i knew it has to have this it's like authenticity and and that's why you know like from from speaking with the sponsors putting gopro over there yeah to like you know

filming all my tour and honestly joe we haven't even used like most of the footage because it's very like full-on 109 minutes of like punchy like in a movie so i wonder if you there's so much it seems like netflix could make an accompaniment program where you could have a whole series. Oh, yeah, easily. Because if you have hundreds of hours of footage, I think that would be really good. And we can go into in-depth, the whole thing.

Yeah, they should do that. They should do that. I mean, you have the footage. Okay, Netflix, you are listening to this. Make it happen. Holla at your boy. Holla at your boy. Let's get it done.

It just seems like you know for a series that's a no brainer you know to do an in depth look at each individual climb you have 14 different mountains yeah yeah I mean that totally makes sense

and they're always looking for content yeah and also the part with the mom you know my mom is like she was everything for me and you know what Joe the biggest thing was, look, my mom got very ill and she was living in this like in a city like, you know, room in Kathmandu.

My dad was in Chitwan where I'm from. And they were like, you know, they were apart for almost two years. And I announced this project and I was like, oh, my God. And then when can I put them together in the same roof and that was my my mission so but I really truly believe that for this bigger purpose bigger goal we all had to sacrifice you know not only i sacrificed my wife sacrificed and my brothers everybody went through it but we are making the difference well the film has been a huge success right i mean so many people have seen it you must have motivated countless amounts of people to do things that

they probably never thought they could do before yeah you know what so we yeah it was the most watched documentary um in netflix we are number seven you know competing with you know what it was the most watched documentary in Netflix we are number 7 you know competing with you know even Dwayne Johnson on that week

competing with The Rock yeah with The Rock hey Rock listen bro listen bro yeah but yeah it was it was extremely I would say

a bit of overwhelming to see the response because you know I get so many messages like you know what Nims I was about to take my life but when I because, you know, I get so many messages like, you know what, Nims, I was about to take my life. But when I saw that, you know, movie, I was like, wow, my life is nothing

in comparison to what this guy went. And it's changing a lot of people's, you know, way of thinking as well. So, you know, I'm happy. I'm happy. That's beautiful. There is something about watching people accomplish amazing things

that does change your perspective It really does work and and you know, there's a lot of motivational people online But they don't necessarily do much the real motivation comes from watching people do the impossible like you or you know watching alex honnold and free solo or watching david goggins or someone who's actually doing something is what really motivates people talk is great it's it's it's exciting like sometimes enthusiastic and energetic people can motivate people just by words but the real motivation comes from watching other people do things and

knowing that it's possible to push beyond the boundaries that you think exist. Because David Goggins has a great quote. He says, most people quit at 40%. Yeah. You know, and I think he's right. Yeah. Yeah. Did you see my quote? What I said? What'd you say? It's completely made up. So it was on K2 when I was there. And what I said was, when you think you're fully fucked, you're only 45% fucked. That's great. That's perfect. Yeah, what happened on that? That's right up there with what Goggin said.

But it's people like you and him that have done insane things that have that ability to express this because it's not just talk you're at you've actually done it and that's that's the difference between I mean I want to call anybody out but you know certain motivational speakers that they give these big tours and they talk in front of large groups of people you can accomplish your goals you can follow your dreams and but what are they doing right it takes it for it to really resonate with a person it takes someone like you that's actually done something spectacular yeah man that means a lot you know coming from you joe thank you when you so over the course of the many months that you did this film

when when you were close was was there ever a moment where you had to realize like we're we're almost there like we actually are doing this because what you set out to do yeah you brought that i'm not in the climbing world but from what i've read if you brought that idea to anybody they'd tell you to go fuck yourself yeah they'd be like that is the craziest idea ever you're gonna do how many peaks 14 and how long seven months do you know what you're saying you're saying you're gonna do one every two weeks yeah that's what you're saying yeah that's so stupid people be like get the fuck out of my office yeah you can't do that like you didn't even say i'll do it all in a year which't even say, I'll do it all in a year, which would be crazy. Or I'll do it all in two years.

Still crazy. Three years. Fucking crazy. Like, what was the world record before that? 11 years? No, nearly eight years. Eight years. Okay, sorry.

Eight years. So if you decide to do it in four, people would go, pretty impressive. You're like, no, no, no. Seven months. And that was the mission statement. And so I think even if I had passed that by one day, I would have repeated. How did you get that number in your head? How did you get the seven months in your head?

Look, when I did the full planning, I knew that this could be done in four months. Four months? Yeah. But I knew that I had no money. So if you had more money, you would have done it in four months? Maybe less than that i had no money you know so so if you had more money you would have done it in four months maybe less than that oh jesus christ so you know that's like you do like one of those every couple of days like that's so crazy and you know like to to answer your question you know i climb everest let's say mcc world's first, fourth, and fifth highest mountain in 48 hours.

How many mountains did you climb in 48 hours? Everest, Lhotse, Makalu, the world's first, fourth, and fifth highest mountain in 48 hours. You climbed three peaks in 48 hours? Yeah. So, yes, I could have done that in less than four months. Holy shit. But I knew that I had to know, first factor into the planning. I know there was no funding. I know that there will be a big bureaucracy, the politics, all that involved.

And you see in the movie, you know, like the whole thing what I had to do in order to get the permission from China was next level. What are you eating when you're doing this? I just eat like Nepalese food. It's rice, vegetable, and meat curry. And if I go up, what I do is I just fry some chicken and have my fried egg rice. I carry some of it heavy, but I carry up and then warm them up and I eat that. You must be starving. I mean, the amount of calories you're burning doing that must be insane. But you know what, Joe?

I carry only just to give, like, it's the training again, the mentality. So when I climb one 8,000-meter peak, I carry one liter of thermos, hot water, though. One liter? One liter. And when I summit and get back down, I would only drink half a liter of that thermos. I always stay reserved. But I think it's the down, I would only drink half a liter of that thermos. I always stay reserved. But I think it's the mindset, it's the training. You know, you don't go so fast as well.

So you are like super out of breath and you are dehydrating. And every, my pace is calculated. And we know with the hot water, what I used to do is going into very basic. I scoop the cold snow, put the hot water and that, you know, that one liter can be like three liters, right? Oh, okay. I drink that, and I always preserve because in mountains, anything could happen. You may be stuck for three days, and if you just don't plan and you start rustling

and all this having that survival kind of mentality, you'll just be dead. Do you carry anything with you like a burner stove so you could melt ice or something to drink? It's already too heavy. Everything over there is is it nice to have or is it must have? If it's must

have, then you take it. If it's nice to have, you don't because it's too crazy. And just to put things into perspective, if you are on like even let's say climbing Everest, you're 8,000 meter peak. Just to get your gloves out, open your like, you know, jeep or take the iPhone out and take a picture. That's like dragging a car at sea level. And hence why people don't have many pictures because it's so much tiring. Wow.

It's multiplied by that much element. And so you're just eating whatever food they have in the area. Are you trying to supplement yourself with vitamins or anything? Is there anything that helps you? I'm going to be honest with you. I have never taken any supplements or anything in my whole life. No vitamins, nothing? Nothing.

Wow. Yeah. Even when I was training for the special forces, do all these things. Just eating and working out. Just eating. I eat what I was training for the special forces, just eating and working out, just eating out, you know, I eat what I want and I just train hard and yeah. So is there anything that they say you should or shouldn't do when you're, when you're in that environment? Like I would think alcohol would be a terrible idea, right? Cause it would dehydrate you, right? Yeah. But you still drink alcohol up there. Yeah, i do you know because but you know my rule is the moment i drink alcohol and i cannot perform

that's the end of it you can go and have fun whatever you do in life you know of course you can you can go but as long as you don't mess up your mission plan, you know, that is good enough. Dehydration is a real issue though, right? Yeah, it can be. So do you take electrolytes or anything? Nothing. Nothing, I just drink water. Just drink water.

Yeah. And how do you know whether you're dehydrated? Because that's one of the things they say about people when they're at high altitude is they don't recognize that they're dehydrated and it becomes an issue. I think many people who are probably at that survival stage wouldn't know, but I'm in full control, Joe. So I kind of know, you know, if I'm like dehydrated and all that, and I kind of look into very details. Hence why, you know, I keep saying, you know, like a small thing matters on the big mountains. It's looking into really smaller things and you know

there's a saying like you know it's not the the rock you know that wears you out you know it's the in a small pebble in your in your in your shoes you know that you know so i think that's from muhammad ali i think yeah yeah yeah that's what he said so there's like little things that that that fills you over there not the big things so I pay attention on little things so once you film this so you went through the entire 14 peaks you did it you got it done once you filmed it how long did it take before you brought it to Netflix and did you bring it to like other places like Amazon or HBO or anything like that so So, again, yes, we did. There was a big competition between Netflix and Disney+. I don't know if I'm allowed to say.

I'm going to say anyway. But for me, money has never been my priority in my life. Otherwise, I would never be able to quit my Special Forces career, sell my house, and go and do this. And even though the money offered by disney was way higher uh you know we decided to go with netflix because i really felt like the movie 14 picks would change so many people's life in a positive way and and the whole idea here is it's not about climbing mountains really so it's about you know we all have our own mountains to climb in life you know how we we climb them and that is the

baseline of this whole story so so you just went with netflix because it has a broader audience yes wow how much bigger is netflix's audience than disney plus so i think well disney plus is pretty huge yeah it's huge but i think you know for, I really wanted to reach out to the world and, you know, get this story out. So, yeah, I think, you know, the whole 14 picks was obviously available in all its country. I don't know. I think Netflix has got 180 million subscribers. It was translated in 31 different languages. Wow. So people can, you know, like in 31 different languages. Wow.

So people can, you know, like, listen in different languages. Do you know how many people have seen it? Did they tell you? Well, they didn't tell me the figure, but they said, like, it was the most watched documentary. And I was like, okay. That's what they do, man. They did that with my comedy specials. They don't tell you shit. Yeah, they just say, you're doing great.

You're doing great. What does that mean? What does that mean? Nothing. You're just doing great. Like, how great? Really great. Yeah. What the What does that mean? What does that mean? Nothing. You're just doing great. Like, how great? Really great. Yeah.

What the fuck does that mean? They don't tell you. Well, it's like, it's a smart business model, really, because they don't have to. Why should they tell you? Yeah. Yeah. So that was the whole purpose. And, you know, I'm glad, you know, it has.

It obviously worked. It has met. But you know what, Joe? Not really, mate. You know, I think, again, you know, at the end of the movie, you have seen, and if this was done by any European, Western climbers, even American, look, I'm not racist, but then this would have been 10 times bigger. No, I don't think that's true.

Hold on. Okay. Listen, man. Your film is huge. Do you know how many people? Yes. Listen to me. Do you know how many people have talked to me about it?

People know that I love extraordinary accomplishments. So, I've had so, once Cam, Cam was the first, because he watched it like when it first came out. I've had so many people contact me about this. So many friends that talked about it and said how incredible it is. I don't think that would have been any different. I think it's probably better that you're you because you don't come from some sort of uh media environment you're not like a Bear Grylls or someone like that it's like a media star you're just a guy with an amazing past

who's genuine I listen I think it's perfect I don't think it would have been bigger come on son just still thanks I don't think it would have been bigger if it was a white guy or an Asian guy or a guy from anywhere else. What you did is you, and I think it's amazing. And it's also amazing because your mindset is not something you can replicate in a lot of people. I think you either have that mindset or you don't. I don't think you could choose to have that mindset and make a film like that because you've had this mindset since you were a small boy. That mindset is not something you could just easily cultivate.

So I don't think there's a lot of people like you out there. You know? But the thing is, Joe, like some of the things that you can train, for example, you know, I always, you know i always you know believe in the positivity and the impact is so huge and sometimes a bit of negative can cost your life and let me give you this example i was in everest in 2017 i was in process of you know breaking the

world records uh and i submitted everest i got back down to camphor and let's say now i'm supposed to climb lots and then i found out my oxygen was stolen now the someone stole your oxygen so the fact over there camp yeah from from where we had a story so the fact there is my my oxygen is stolen that's the reality okay but then a lot of people probably go mental saying that you know what fuck my oxygen is stolen they go out of the mine and and they lose it and then they blame that and they go down because that's the only way to do and i was like no how can i change the tide how can i and what i really did at that point was so i said to myself nims your oxygen wasn't stolen it was used by somebody else

to rescue somebody. So it was used to save his life. And I completely believe in that lie. And it's a lie. But I have to believe in that by myself. And I was like, okay. So because of that, my oxygen, someone is alive and his family can see him. And I got that energy. And I went and submitted Lhotse and got back down brother so you lied yourself i lied to myself but i had to believe in that that's a great way to do it it's very very wise yeah sometimes you know like you have to lie yourself and you got to believe in in the positivity even though it's not and then and then you believe what you believe is is your god how could someone steal your oxygen what a dirty person person. Yeah, but it happens, brother.

Do you? I think they might be in that survival situation where they didn't have the option. Right. And, you know, when it comes into the stage of survival, again, I give example of drowning in the sea because a lot of people understand. It doesn't matter if your girlfriend or wife, you know, drowning next to you, you'll grab them and try to survive. So that's the situation, I think. Yeah, people get desperate. Yeah, and, you know, who knows?

Maybe they're extremely poor. One of the things about Everest is that, you know, this is one negative thing that people say, that it's like a rich man's goal, like that they want to be bragging at a cocktail party about summoning everest yeah and that really it's the sherpas that are doing all the work yeah so so even there joe sorry i interrupted there's two things um again it's what the media says right the media has got so much power these days and it could be completely wrong. And no, Everest is not for every rich people.

No, because let's give my own example. Did I have money to climb all these things? No. Everything in life. Look, either you become so good. If you are so good at it, you don't even need that much money to climb Everest. Okay. Because you don't need don't even need that much money to climb everest okay because you don't need such a support right but if you are not that if you don't have time to do that and and you know if

you have been working hard in in your own world in your work and you have saved that money you can go and climb with the support so i take things completely in in a different way because even now people will say oh i if I had the money I would have climbed 14 peaks I'm like bullshit I didn't even have the money so there's no excuses so I think everything in in life whatever you want to do has got two angle either you invest your career in that you build up you become so good so you can you can do without bare minimum or you're working in some industry but you're saving up to do. And I think for me, let's say, for example, if Albert Einstein wanted to go and climb Everest,

I would say, of course, because he can experience that. Depends on how old he is. I don't know. What's the oldest guy that's ever climbed it? 82. 82? 82. 82? 82. So the big thing here is, you know, like it's adventure, Joe.

What I really believe is a lot of people, like they all have rights to the adventure. And people don't really come and climb Everest or any 1,000-meter peak to be another Nimstai or another like, you know, the legend. But they come to experience experience something it's like running marathon people run marathon because from that journey they take something away in their life and then whatever they are doing like a corporate role or business they say you know what i ran that whole marathon even i was i was in agony i was in pain i can do this job so i climbed this everest when it was so tough but now i can do this thing so they I climbed this Everest when it was so tough, but now I can do this thing. So they climb for that experience,

for that mindset to develop into different thing. And again, it choose, right? You pick and choose. So, okay, if I want to go to space, well, either, you know, I'd be a scientist by myself or I have the money, I use other people to the advantage and I go, right? But it's about the experience.

And I think we humans should be more open to be helping each other and then cut all this negative away and try to see from their perspective before making the judgment or before making any calls. Well, you're saying that because you're a winner. And see, you've got to realize that haters are all losers. And the people that are negative and they're constantly looking for a negative angle, most of them are failures. But they find a reason to disparage people's success.

So if it's a bunch of rich people that are climbing Mount Everest, they decide to just shit on these rich people that are climbing Mount Everest because it's an easy way to find a negative angle on what's a positive accomplishment. But from their perspective, one thing that I do agree with them is that it is very unfortunate that the amount of human waste that's left behind, this disgusting amount of human shit is left up there because they just leave leave it up there and they leave a lot of their trash up there they leave the bodies up there so from their perspective there is there's value to the fact that even though they write these articles shitting on these people no pun intended the the the it at least brings attention to the fact that that is an issue. Okay. Yes, correct. So that's an issue. Yeah. But, you know, we are there to solve that issue now.

That is amazing that you're going to do that. That's why, you know. And, you know, right now I have been announced as a goodwill ambassador for Nepal tourism. So hopefully we can, you know, implement that kind of rule. So, look, when I announced the big mountain cleanup project, I thought a few corporates organized and would support it. And there wasn't. So I put my own money. And then what I believe is, yes, sometimes you have to start by yourself. It's okay. So there wasn't like big corporate industry or all these people came

and said, Nims, you know what? You announced the big mountain cleanup project. We are part of this outdoor industry. We are part of this. We can support you to bring all those robbies. No, not any big major donations. Maybe they don't know about it. Hopefully after listening to those podcasts, they'll find out.

How would they be able to contribute? If say REI wanted to get involved or Yeti Coolers or something like that okay so company just go into nimstai foundation and it will be there jamie's pulled it up because he's the fucking best yeah mountain cleanup committing to restore respect and protect so this is you yeah up there and is that garbage that's behind you what is that that's the garbage behind me so that's on k2 that is a mountain the garbage behind me. That's on K2. That is a mountain of garbage?

All that stuff to the left of you, all that colorful stuff? Yeah. That's all garbage? Yeah. How much garbage is up there? Quite a lot, Joe. So this year, I think we managed to get around, you know... Can we play that film?

Let's play the film. Yeah, let's play that. Let's play it. Oh, hi. Look at you, you handsome devil. How the global warming and the climate change has affected the whole of the planet. For me, being as a mountaineer, I would like to highlight what's actually happening on the big mountains. You need a better sound guy.

Yeah. So if the temperature keeps rising like this with the global warming, eventually this glacier will collapse. And if that happens, the whole of the valley is going to get wiped out. And it's just a matter of time. Let's be proactive. Let's do whatever we can in order to save this disaster. Did you have your microphone under your clothes or something?

Yeah. Yeah, you're right. I should have done it better. Yeah. Maybe you should dub this over, pretend you're right, I should have done it better. Maybe you should dub this over, pretend you're outside. I'm playing my part with my upcoming project called the Big Mountain Cleanup Project, where we'll be cleaning up all the mountains, starting with Manassu in September, Everest in the spring, next year. That's 2022.

I'm a Babylon towards the end of autumn in 2022 again, and K2 a year after. I absolutely believe that this decade is huge, important for us in order to protect our planet or our home. That's beautiful that you're doing this. Now, let me ask you this. What about the bodies? So...

Because there's a lot of bodies up there, right? Especially Everest. Not like so many bodies. Like most of the bodies have been brought down. They have? Yeah, yeah. Oh, when did this happen? Every season, you know?

Oh. But there's still a lot that's left up there. Isn't there like some of the first climbers that ever tried to do it, they're still up there? Yeah, but some of the bodies, you cannot find them because, you know, every year it's snowing and some of the bodies go into crevasse like deep, you know, so you wouldn't find. But some of the bodies that you see, most of the bodies that you can see are brought down. I wrote a piece about this a long time ago because they had photos of the very first guy that died up there and you know his face down his skin is white it looks like marble yeah it's crazy yeah you know do you remember the first time you saw a body up there

yeah yeah it was on the whole agree so it was my first a thousand meter peak and there was a dead body right on the summit. Whoa. And. So you got to the top and there's a dead guy up there. Yeah. Do they know who the dead guy is? No, we really don't know.

So no one knows? No one knows, I think, yeah. Wow. Yeah. So it's just some guy who died. Yeah, some people who pushed too much beyond their limitations and. Couldn't make it down like you know like that that story which i wrote on beyond possible on kansan zhanga this guy was clearly out of his death and

now said hey brother you need to turn around and he said no my only way is up when you're on that line to everest and there's 100 plus people in that line, what if someone has to take a shit? Well, I think that's a very good question. But I think at that point, the human body is so much into that survival element. You just shut down. People don't like, you know, don't feel it. But if they feel it, even like there are like little rocks where they can crab and go and go behind. But it's a line of people.

So do you cut the line? I think at that point. Do you get back in? Do they let you back in? Hey, that's my spot. I have to take a shit. I think at that point, if people want to have a shit, because it's not that really fast moving line, Joe,

because people take one step and they wait for like three, four minutes to get another breath back. And everybody's doing that. Oh, really? And everybody's doing that. So it's not like really QQ. And i think some of the people actually might like it because they don't have to push so hard they're like okay this guy is in front of me so he takes one step rest three four minutes right and then get another one that's literally towards the summit bit

because it's so much thinner it's almost 9 000 meters so wow yeah yeah that's uh that's very high that's very high and are most people at that peak when they're that high up or the people that aren't like yourself are they using oxygen to do that yeah most of them are on oxygen so they have a tank that's they have a tank so you know obviously the sherpa would carry the spare tank so and the sherpa doesn't even need oxygen well it all depends upon how we are climbing. If we are guiding and all, we take the oxygen because we cannot jeopardize the client's life. Just, you know, you want to be a hero.

But, yeah, you know, we can climb without oxygen and few people can do it if they're trained for that. So is Everest the most popular of all the summits? I think it's the most popular, but there's another mountain called K2, which is quite a hard mountain. They call that K2 was the only mountain in the world above 8,000 meter peak. No one had summited in winter. So all other 13 were summited in winter and K2 was the last challenge. And yeah, we went. We went over there.

So you did it just because it's hard. went over there so you did it just because it's hard no i think at that point being brutally honest i didn't even want it to go in k2 that year because i knew that the movie was coming and i was planning okay you know when the movie comes i will have more reach out i'll get more sponsorship that means more money and i can look after my family. But then it was a huge race. Every climber's from all over the world. So this was 46 expedition going on K2 winter to race. And I was like, hey, Nims, you know, you said you are never about money and all that. Now you need to go.

And the reason why I went and made that quick decision was, look, we as a Nepalese climbers, brother, we have got 8,000 meter peak in Nepal. It's our playground. And none of them were summited in, like, none of us have summited in winter. Not because we couldn't do it. We didn't know the value of summiting in winter. We had no idea.

Like, by summiting in winter is such a big thing. So then we obviously started figuring out, okay, it's the greatest, the last mountaineering challenge remaining. So we went over there. And, yeah. And then it was done in a style like. Now, when you do that, say if you're going to summit K2 in winter, do you have to be very careful with weather reports? Do you have to have updated satellite images of what storms are moving through how do you do that my hundred percent I think we have that

that video on k2 winter if you go on to the NIMS dice a project you can find out so there's a k2 and that goes into into more detail and I think if people are looking at it we can we can send it to you but how much colder is it in the winter minus 65 degrees celsius oh and it's like like like hurricane wind you know what we're wearing so we were like you know the base layer then we'll wear like mid layer then we were like another jacket down jacket then we were another down jacket and then big summit suit. So your kit and equipment is probably around, I would say, 15 kg. So that's like 35 pounds or something like that? Yeah, and that's why...

That's just clothes. Yeah, I think all previous 45 expeditions, the highest, one of the world's best climbers, you name it, their reach was 7,400 meters. So no one could even go beyond that. What did you get to? Okay, brother, to the summit, of course. To the summit.

And the summit is where? 1,600 meters. Wow. So everyone else got to 7,000 plus? Yeah, all 45 expeditions before. So you were the first? We were the first. Wow.

And why I say we is, Joe, in every mountaineering history, like most of the time, it's one person submitting. Right? So this, my team, the whole K2 winter expedition was paid by me. Here it is. Not this one. It's on the project. Yeah, that's the one. Minus 65 degrees Celsius.

Yeah, this is the one, buddy. one is on the project yeah that's the one yeah 65 yeah this is the one buddy which is it minus 40 degrees Celsius is the same Fahrenheit as it is Celsius that's how this hurricane winds oh my god and then you got a ladder k2 winter the greatest the hardest the last now when you've done this nims this is a you're in a strange situation you've done something extraordinary you made a huge film that millions of people have seen it's got an extraordinary amount of attention are you in a position now where you feel obligated to do another crazy thing no no i have always been myself and at the end of the movie you see like you know I haven't even started it brother but that's all I'm

saying you got a lot to do like so you're gonna do some other crazy shit a lot of them do a lot of them yes what's is it all gonna be climbing now what are you gonna do now I think probably have to stay tuned brother stay tuned come on I'm sorry preview Give people a preview. What are you thinking of doing? It's like achieving my own new possible. And again, extreme sport is where I live. Right.

So, yeah. So once you've accomplished something like this, and then you get done with doing press for it, and then it gets very popular, do you then sit around and think about what your next goals are do you wait for your goals to just pop into your head and come to you how do you yeah i wait for it to pop and it just comes in like you know that's why i said you know like when i and when i first talk about this project people say okay it's impossible there's

nothing bigger than this like of course there is bigger than this it It's like when, you know, first, you know, Neil Armstrong went to the moon, they were like, oh, it's not possible. He went to the moon and now people are going in Mars and all that in a planet. So there's always bigger things to do. No one's gone to Mars though, dude.

Really? Yeah. But they have said something, no? No one's gone to the moon since 1972. But they have gone there, no? At first. It's done though. It's possible.

It's done though. It's possible. Yeah, and you know, Joe, I think, so on K2, I want to finish that story. So it was 65 degrees below Celsius. Yeah, and then at that point, what I said to my team members was like, guys, at that point, a lot of people were dying because of the pandemic and so many crises.

And I said to them, guys, we are from Nepal, very poor country, but let's send a message of unification and what I said to them was like every time in the history of mountain there's always one person submitting there's only one even though I was the expert leader all my serpas were getting paid from from the money that I was getting for my sponsorship and all that I could have been the first but I didn't want it. So I said, 10 of us will summit together singing the national anthem of Nepal. And everybody looked at me,

Nimsta, you're fucking serious. How are you going to sing when you can't breathe? Hey. And I will answer that question as well. Did you record the singing? Yes. Can I see it? Is it online?

Yes, it's on online. All right, we're going to see that. K2 Winter, the Nepalese, you know. And yeah, you know, Joe, so we pushed it on. the singing yes can i see it is it online yes it's on online all right we gotta see that k2 winter the nepalese you know and yeah you know joe so we pushed it on and just five meter from the summit we stopped i was i was controlling everything because i was like you know if just somebody guys run at the front and whole planet is disturbed so i was holding it like you know making sure i was at the front so i controlled the show. So we wait everybody to come together and then we hug each other.

And last five meters, we walk together singing the national anthem. And you know what? That was the most satisfying and most like, I would say, the happiest moment of my life. Because everybody was feeling the equal. Here it is

so i would like you to notice over there so that's me without oxygen over there okay the one with the um red summit suit next to this cameraman i'll come into that in a bit this cameraman. I'll come into that in a bit. Oh my god, so here you see the view is insane. Yes, my brother. That view is insane. So this is the peak right here? Yeah, that's the summit. Wow. And that's how many feet? That's 8,600. Help me please. 8,600 meters. Yeah. A meter is roughly three feet, right? Oh, my God. Does that guy have frostbite on his face? Is that what that is? Yeah, yeah.

You say yeah, yeah, like no big deal. He's going to lose his face. What happens? It's a frostnip, so frost nip can be treated. So the frost nip is the early stage of frostbite. Show that guy's face, Jamie. Yeah, right there. That looks serious.

Yeah. That's just frost nip? Frost nip, yeah. Does that leave a scar? A little bit, but that will go away with time. It looks like his face is falling off. That looks like, doesn't it? Yeah, that doesn't look good, right?

Jamie wants to, he told me before this, he wants to climb with you. Jamie, you should come. I got a lot of shows to produce here. Unless we're going up there together. Oh, man. Yeah, we should. I'll make it happen. Fuck that.

Trust me. Yeah, good for you. Mate, you know what? This is exactly what I used to think before. Oh, this is what exactly I'm telling you right now. Mate, you know what? When I was before. Fuck that. Trust me. Yeah, good for you. Mate, you know what? This is exactly what I used to think before. Oh, this is what exactly I'm telling you right now. Fuck that. Joe, before 30 years old, you know, because, you know, going into Special Forces selection, carrying those big backpack running everywhere, I hated the hills.

I hated the mountain. I was like, I never want to go and do this. But when I was serving around the world, people keep asking me, hey, where are you from? And I said, I'm from Nepal. And they were like, okay, where is Nepal? I said, do you know Mount Everest? And they were like, okay, have you seen it? And I was sick of saying no.

And that's the only reason I went to Everest. Basically, I'm to see the Everest. And that changed my whole life. You never know until you try, honestly. I'm sure. 100%. You said, come. You know what that means? I'll never know. Yes. to honestly i'm sure 100 you said come you know what that means i'll never know yes you said i'm not doing that come on no okay thanks for the offer i really appreciate it it's very kind of you but i'm so not into that yeah i love mountains i love

being in the mountains but that is uh no but different that's you know like i really want you to come to me i'm sure you do it's not gonna happen different you gotta let it go you gotta let that go oh my god listen okay i have shows to produce so what are you doing now? Like what do you do with your time now that you've done this? Like you retired from the military. You put this Netflix documentary out.

Did you make good money from the Netflix thing to the point where you can kind of relax for a little bit? Not really, mate. So what I'm doing right now is I'm guiding 10 months on the mountains. Really? Yeah, I've got this company called Elite Exped. So you personally guide people? I personally guide people. How many people want to go with you?

That must be like a big line. Well, I think just not that huge number, to be honest. But this year, I'm taking really some cool people so i'm guiding the princess of qatar um the princess of qatar is gonna take a walk up everest yes and you know what c is the most strongest climber guide wise i have ever climbed in my life c is badass like you know like honestly brother i wouldn't have said it really c is that Like, you know, like, honestly, brother, I wouldn't have said it. Really? She is that fit. Wow. And, you know, we're in Antarctica, and then there were, like, some guys who have climbed 14 peaks and all these.

And when they saw her, like, carrying her own tent, dragging everything, and, you know, because I want her to be credible. You know, this is where we are training. Yes, yes. People were, like, mental. And she climbed Manaslu, a 1,000-meter peak without oxygen, so. Really? Yeah. So what's the numbers of people that do Everest a year?

Like how many people do Everest every year? It depends, buddy. So I think 300, I would say, the clients, and maybe 400 to 500, the Sherpas. So just around 800 people in a good season 800 people yeah it's pretty low it's very low like you know like in a Mont Blanc like 20,000 people summit in a season plus and how many people die on Everest every year oh five to six people that's not that's not yeah nowadays because there's big safety And a lot of like very competent guide and all that. And you know what, Joe?

I'm going to tell you these statistics. People have tried 14 times, 14 times to climb one 8,000 meter peak and they haven't still been able to do it. Do you know what my track record is? I have laid 26

8,000 meter peak exped expedition and i have never fell any of those never failed and not only that when i say failed as in like in terms of reaching to the summit and bringing everyone back down exactly where they left no like toes missing no fingers cutting down maybe a bit fit. And that's my track record. How have you been able to do that? I think it's with a very, like, in-detail planning, being able to see what things come ahead. All that in the planning first factors I learned from the special forces and equally being very strong at the altitude, I think.

If you have someone that you're going to take to the top of the mountain, how do you ensure that they're fit enough to accomplish it? I truly believe that anybody can climb. It's the matter of how you do it. So for example, let's say a person who had never climbed anything comes to me, I will take them to Aconcagua, which is 7,000 meter peak. It's like really trekking peak, right? Not technical. And at this expedition, they learn about how they feel, how they adapt with altitude because different people adapt differently.

Just to put into breaking down into perspective, for example, if you like, let's say you are reaching to the base camp and for some people it can take, let's say, 12 days or 13 days. But if you just follow that crowd,'s say you are reaching to the base camp, and for some people it can take, let's say, 12 days or 13 days. But if you just follow that crowd, even though you are struggling, that could jeopardize the whole thing. But in another perspective, if you slow down by a day,

you could be completely fine. So it's all about like different people is different. And then obviously I take them to Monastery, a thousand meter peak. That's where they learn a bit more. And then they go in Everest. So it's with now innovation, technology, and with the science, how the people adapt differently and all that is possible. So they don't even have to be necessarily very fit.

I would say they have to be necessarily very fit. I would say they have to be okay fit, not like super, super fit though. Because, you know, you could be like, again, you could be using ball at sea level. That means nothing at altitude. Because over there you are like, you are walking very slowly. You cannot go fast.

Would you recommend someone do something like, I they have these uh tents oh yeah yeah so a lot of people do that but it's good to have it but it's not a replacement for the altitude because when you actually go and do the the trekking the acclimatized and you spend 24 hours right you put that 10 in your house, maybe you sleep, you know, five hours even or less. And then that is not the substitute for climbing. How long does it take for a human body to adapt to, like, that kind of altitude? It all depends, second Joe. Like, for me, I can go and I can probably climb a 1,000-meter peak within 10 days without any acclimatization, any prior acclimatization.

Some people take take you know two and a half months so it all depends so some people that are going to do that they will go and what will they do to get prepared for something that's going to take two and a half months for them to acclimate so what they do is okay they come to nepal two days will be in kathmandu then we fly to lukla so that's where you know you start the trekking and it's like a beautiful really nice beautiful trekking so you you probably walk five six hours in a day so you have a breakfast you know you you carry pd like light have a lunch and you go into the tea houses you sleep over there and next day again you you walk another

five hours exactly same routine so you're building yourself you're building up slowly and once you get to the base camp you stay there for five days because you know you are building the red blood cells you do like small like acclimatization hike nothing crazy and after five days what you do is you go to cam one you sleep over there this is the first one you know and then if you feel good you go to cam one you sleep over there so it's the first one you know and then if you feel good you go to cam two if you don't you sleep there for another day and then you go to cam two eventually if you feel good again you go and touch cam three and calm down if you're not feeling good i keep them for extra day because because it's like building the red blood cells acclimatized. Is there a way to check?

No, it's all... How you feel? Yeah, how you feel. It's like as long as all my clients are honest, I tailor-fit everything. You got to be careful with really tough people then, right? Yeah, very. And you know what?

Exactly. Tough people are the ones who struggle because there's so much egos and they want to do it and they are not as fast as they are on sea level. So this is where, like, you have to take a chill pill and let it adapt. That has to be very hard because a lot of the people that are willing to do something like that are very tough to begin with. Yeah.

And that's when it hits it. And, yeah, once you touch cam three, you come down to base cam and now you wait for the weather window. And if there's a good weather window, this time now you can go directly to Camp 2. And you'll be even quicker because you're acclimatized. And you go to Camp 3. From Camp 3, we put on oxygen. And then, obviously, you go to Camp 4.

And Camp 4, you're on Everest. Depending on how fast you are, I kind of decide who goes at what time. So if you're slower, we send it nine o'clock if you're faster we send it like 1 a.m in the morning so everybody will summit around seven o'clock in the morning and they come down and yeah so so the whole process from flying to nepal to summoning everest how much time is average two months months. Two months? Two months. Wow. So that's where we're definitely not going, Jamie. Yeah, but you know what?

I can take people in a month. Yeah, I don't have a month, bro. I don't even have a week. Jesus, I know. That's crazy. But you can always make that time. Hey, you're right. I heard that.

I heard that before. You can do it. You can do it, buddy. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So that's amazing that that many people have that kind of time to spend months acclimatizing. You know what? It's not that.

It's like making time for yourself. Because some of the people who are coming are literally like in the billionaires and some some are like very busy people and well it's got to be a life goal for them right yeah it has to be something where you know they are doing that for a reason either to get the experience to to move on and take away from that experience to whatever they're going to achieve in life or yeah it's the adventure you know adventure is the is the biggest healer of any any problems we have in life yeah yeah adventure is yeah 100 how so i think because that's when look a lot of people say nims you know why you climb and all that i i a few reasons you know one i climb you know so that i'm alive because i love putting myself into the ricks where i i care about living and not just existing right and like in other normal terms you

know why adventure like and i say why it heals everything is because when when you get into those mountains things are very simpler. You know, all these things that we worry about, you know, paying the mortgage or, you know, like entertaining this guy or making everybody happy. All those problems we have from the society, they all get dropped down because you are at that element of, I would say, not survival, but in that adventure field where nothing really matters. Like, you know, for example, if you are doing a fast four miler, you're not going to think about all those things. You are like thinking about how you keep up the pace to meet that mission. And that's what it is. And I think it's a great like, you know, things to do. It's a great, like, you know, things to do.

Well, I can imagine that the difficulty of it, the power of just being out there in that insanely beautiful environment, it's very hard to think about all the nonsense of the world. It kind of puts things into perspective. Massively, massively. Yeah. But you know why I first started climbing zoo? You know, like being the first Gurkha girl in sbs you know passing it in the first time and you know serving around the world for 10 years doing doing crazy shit you know um and you think we're invincible you really think we're invincible you know from this stuff that you have

done and uh when i first went to the mountain it really made me feel humble the nature was like you know what it put me into back into my shoes and elements so then i really started loving that and then and i and i started finding the joy in in putting myself into into this self-voluntary torture um and then obviously with that i found the the bigger purpose and and then this is where I am and the key message in everything what I've done and what I say to people is look whatever you do in life follow your passion because if you follow your passion like when I did in Garakaz it was my passion when I did in SBS it's a passion because you put so much hour extra on this work. And then if that's a work that you don't love, it's not a passion, you will go mental, you'll go crazy. So when you follow your passion,

extra work is not extra hours because you are enjoying it. And that extra hours is like extra training. And when you put so much extra training than the rest of the people, you of course become the best of who you are. And with that being the best means, you know, of course there's then different source of income because you are the elite of that thing

and the money that all these things will follow. I know you're speaking to a lot of ultra performers out there. You're speaking to people that do have that mindset and they do want to accomplish things. For some people, it's just hard to get those first few steps going to achieve a goal and to follow a dream. What you're saying, I 100% believe that if you find your passion, you're not working. You're loving it.

It's not like a job that you dread where you show up every day. It's just a matter of finding that thing. But for a lot of people, it's very difficult to find that thing. So that's why, Luke, it's one life. So you got to go and try different things. Otherwise, you are not living it. Why you are scared of taking that risk, quitting from that job or whatever that is. A lot of people are scared, though.

And then go and do it because it's one life. What worse can happen i'm with you i agree with you 100 but for a lot of people it's very difficult to get moving you know what to a lot of people who are listening this today make that commitment and you never know you know what at the at the worst situation you will probably lose that job hey come on that's not that's not end of it that's not really end of it and and and for those people who doesn't really know the difference between living and existing guys look it's that living and once you make those commitment and nothing comes without any risk you have to take that

risky step of you know that job that you are not liking or that career that you are not enjoying and then and then do other things that's the thing is that so many people are not willing to take a risk the risk seems too dangerous it seems too fraught with peril and there's no definite like which you did when you retired from the military you you had no safety net. And for some people, that's terrifying. They live for a safety net. They want a nice 401K retirement plan.

Oh, my God. They want. Yeah. You are right. You know, like with this, like in a movie, if I had to go through, like, let's say, bigger production team, it would have never been signed because they were like, oh, it's such a huge risk. Right, right. All that, right? Because it's crazy. But because crazy but you know you make things happen and we all are different and and again going into that perspective what you said you know when i sold my house and gave up my prestige career in this special forces all that pension you know my best thing was you know what the worst thing is what could happen i can leave leave off my tent. And even I said to my wife, you know, we're going to start from the tent.

Your wife was probably like, what? What? A tent. Yeah, and then you go again. You grow again, you know, Joe. And there's always a time. You can do that. That is absolutely possible.

But for most people, when they've achieved a certain amount of success, the idea of going backwards is terrifying to them, right? Yeah, that's why you need to find the purpose. Wow. And that purpose, like, you know, because when I say that I climbed without sleeping for six days, it's like, hey, why? Because I had the purpose.

I honestly, you know, I used to slap my face. I used to think about all these motivating factors. Then you break it down, and I used to put snow under my armp factors you you then you break it down and i used to put the snow under my armpit but then it's the purpose you know what the snow under the armpit is to wake you up is that what that's yeah yeah just because it's like freezing cold and then even that is so like you you are so tired that as soon as you stop you'll fall asleep and you're like oh my god i may fall down and then you're like start slapping in your face and then yeah you know it's just like and i may you know funny things what i used to think was like yeah names you know you felt like in downtown in a club and you are like drinking

and you're dancing and even it's like two o'clock in the morning you would still you still dance and you know and you are not even achieving anything but now you are here in the greatest mission and you want to sleep you know all these multi-layers of like motivating factors you know and also like seeing the the light at the end of the tunnel you know like i always knew like i had to finish this project and yeah what was it like when you stepped foot on the top of the last summit but um as soon as i went there i was like okay it's the last project, last mountain. I still haven't done it. I need to get back down safely.

This is when things could, like, go wrong. So don't be too cocky. Straight away, I went into, like, you know, that net. And the big thing was, you know, I called my mom from the summit. And I said, hey, mom, you know. You have cell phone service at the summit? Yeah, your satellite phone. And I called her and I said, remember that project I was doing?

And she's like, yeah. And it's like, it's over, mom. I just have to get down safely. And that was, I remember that phase, brother. Wow. That would be pretty incredible. Yeah, I think, look, let me put it this way. During the first phase, when I finished it, the big sponsors started coming in.

A few hotels in Kathmandu and all, they get in touch and they were looking after my free stay and all that. And then one of the hotels, I took my mom and I asked for the mineral water. And my mom told me, son, can you afford this? And I said, mom, you know you know for staying in this hotel you know these people like you know not only give me a free stay they they are supporting by paying a bit of you know money into the project and she's like bullshit don't try to fool me and and she never had the idea she never had the idea what i was doing and then literally when i finished the whole 14 pics um i made her fly at the border, which you see on the film as well.

And that was, and she still didn't know it, but then when the helicopter came and landed at Kathmandu airport, and there was like British ambassador coming in like Range Rover with the flag of Nepal and United Kingdom. And then as we get out of the gate, there was like whole of the band, you know, like playing and then mom probably saw, okay, this is what, you know, her son had done.

That had to be amazing to make your mother so proud. Yeah, man. And the big thing here, what I really felt where I was really upset was I told you earlier, like my dad was in Chitwan, my mom was in Chitwan, my mom was in Kathmandu living in this small room and I wanted to put them together

and after I finished the project, honestly, the bank, they trust me and they give me like loan and everything and it was around 600K. I bought a really nice house in Kathmandu.

It was all like made and I was trying to put my mom and dad together and uh and i remember it was 26th of february when i went to move my both parents my mom passed away two hours before i landed and that was when i really felt like time you know it never waits for anybody and that was when i felt like that's the only mission i felt in my life oh that's not a failure that's just life you know it's like you know but hey i hope you know you know i still kind of like satisfy myself saying that okay at least you witnessed the the airport stuff that you know welcoming and all that the positive aspect no that's very positive i mean she she saw you accomplish something that's incredible and we all die brother yes we all die

that's uh that's something that's i think the hardest for people to recognize the people that are scared to take chances that are scared to live a risky life and to do something outside of a boring job that they hate. They have to get it in their head. They forget that as well. They forget. We forget that we go one day. And why we are living every hour, every minute in that work or in that things that you are not loving, it's not good for your health,

certainly for your mental health. And it's not good in terms of, you know, like you living. It's not good for your spirit. You are just existing. So, yeah. You know, you're not growing. Do you want some of that? Thank you, Joe. The thing about life is that you can grow

and become a better version. Cheers, brother. Cheers, my man. Thank you. You can become a better version. Cheers, brother. Cheers, my man. Thank you. You can become a better version of who you are. A hundred percent. I mean, we're all, look, I'm a way better person than I was decades ago. I'm better at life.

I'm better at managing myself. I'm better at doing things. I'm better at getting things done. And it's because of all the various difficult things that i've done over that time and some people unfortunately don't get to experience what that feels like because they don't they don't test themselves enough they don't they don't reach for things they don't they don't stress their system and try things out and try their find out where their boundaries are and and joe like if if i may like did you thought that you would do this kind

of podcast before like you started and and how did these things like came for you this is just keeping going it's just uh i don't know what it is honestly i mean people want to ask me as if i had some lofty goal to be like the number one podcast in the world there's no i had no goals but you know what like when i first like finished this mission all my friends were like names you got to go like to joe rogan and all that and i was like wow okay and okay. And then, of course, I Googled and I found out. But again, like for you, it seems like you're loving this. You're enjoying it. I love it. And that's the whole thing, you know, what we are trying to say to all these people who are listening is simply follow your passion.

What I've gotten out of this podcast that I didn't necessarily think that I wanted in my life, it just sort of happened, was an education in communicating with extraordinary people. And when someone like you, like when I reached out to you, it's like when we started setting this up, I was like, that is exactly the type of person I want to talk to. When Cam told me about you, and then when you reached out to me on Instagram, and then I reached out to you, and we started figuring out how to do this and coordinate and make it happen, I was like, this is exactly the type of person I want to talk to. That's what this podcast is about.

There's so many interesting and extraordinary people out there in the world, and so few people have access to them. But through this podcast, And so few people have access to them. But through this podcast, I have been like an antenna for all these folks. I've been able to broadcast all the thoughts and ideas of extraordinary people. So, so many people get to think the way a person like you thinks. Or all these other interesting people that I've had on.

A lot of people even in Nepal listen to you. Yeah, it's crazy. It's crazy. You probably wouldn't have thought, but yeah, a lot of people in Nepal. It's number one in 93 countries. Wow. It's nuts.

Well done, brother. Well done. That's awesome. But the thing is, it's like it wasn't on purpose. There was no, I still can't believe it. It doesn't make any sense to me. All I do is just still do what I've always done. It's like I enjoy talking to interesting people.

I'm fascinated by the way people live their lives and the way they think about things and the knowledge that they've acquired and the way they've developed their discipline and their intellect. That's just always been me though. I've always been fascinated by people and how their minds work. And I think because that's who you are,

and you try to get, like, that, you know, like, eagerness. Yeah. Like, that keenness. And I think that's when you can get, like, the great content out of the people. Well, you also, you get better at podcasting, like, as a conversation. and a lot of people are just not that good at having conversations. And it's tricky to manage, you know? I mean, I'm sure you've talked to people that aren't good at talking. No, yeah.

It's uncomfortable sometimes. It's like, yeah. It's clunky. Yeah. Yeah, it's kind of a weird art form. Yeah. Like, when I talk to someone who's a really good conversationalist it's very thrilling it's exciting it's like wow this is very enjoyable conversation like I really like it and that is that's something

that I think people have for whatever reason not thought of as a skill or as a craft or as an art but I guess it is and I found out about it by accident I mean I found out about you take the i mean i found out about the fact that it's a skill the information out and you just like you know hold that you know you know in the conversation and so you know like um the big thing you know when when i really like you know decided to come over here and look i'm so honest i was like you know what this guy is fucking true i spoke with um i've sent a message to david goggins as well and it's like yeah this guy is amazing like yeah you know and uh but it's been like super busy time and i was so happy but again like you said

you know my key key messaging was your there's no excuse in life right we all can make excuse and say okay wish i had that had i'd been that these people have been like no you know like as i said you know coming from barefoot not even having a 10p in my pocket you know forget all that today you know whatever angle you look you know i'm not only you know have this kind of like successful like career and documentary you know today and if money is something that attracts to you yes i'm already a millionaire so there's no excuse in anything in life but the key here is follow your passion yeah that really is the key find a thing that you love to do don't necessarily think just about money because if you have a lot of money but you're miserable, you fucked up.

You fucked up. Massively. You want to do what you enjoy doing. And if you do what you enjoy doing and you excel at it and you become excellent, you will make money. Yeah, because you are putting so many hours into it naturally. And it's that natural training right and also like a lot of people also ask me names like you had so much like trouble going into this one the whole of the project and how you made this possible and one thing which I must give credit is you know the United Kingdom

Special Forces so the key point here is the centrality of the mission and those people who have read the book and who have was the movie obviously you saw me where i was i was shot by a a sniper right yeah and then obviously i fell down from this two-story building we we talked about that at the very beginning so the the sniper bullet hit your rifle butt right next to your neck yeah so i was in prone position laying in the ground i was spinning in the right in front and then like somebody from this angle the sniper because you know like i asked my other colleagues like you know the local special forces to come on this roof to have this

all-around defense but it was so hard you know the bullets were flying everywhere so those guys got scared and I had to go up in order to to pin that enemy position so that you know my other assault force can go and take over so I went up to to facilitate that and then yeah next thing I was in the ground and obviously I was bleeding from from my face and first thing was I was like oh names they say you don't feel the pain when you are like shot. So I don't know. So I checked my jaw and it was there. And then what people didn't see here going back into the point centrality of the mission is what I did after that.

So of course, you know, my long barrel weapon is not in use anymore. is not in use anymore. I was asked to leave the fight and go in the CASVAC in a helicopter to a bigger hospital. Then I said no. And then the reason why I said no was the centrality of the mission. This is like, you know, I'm getting my pistol out.

I fought for like six hours just with pistol. And why again because i really think that the mission statement is the mission statement so if i go there just because of i can go is like there's one less special forces operator in the ground there's one less set of you know envies in the ground this one list set of you know like weapon in the ground and with that you know I may lose my friends because there's not like 360 protection it's not the full fighting scale so and I destroyed yeah and then and may you know what and I I was given my friends weapon so that weapon when I received after six hours,

wasn't even zeroed to my eye. And I still remember, man, I was like trying to shoot and I miss it. I was like, oh, it's not my weapon. And I had to adjust on the ground and keep doing. Yeah.

But again, you know, that's the reason why I keep fighting is like the mission statement. So in 14-picks mission, there were a lot of troubles like you know the the biggest painful was to me when your own people kind of you know like make the mickey out of you and and this negative thing so i was in this evolution of raising the funding joe and i went there and then it's all the Gurkha community

and some of them just said, yeah, you know what? This guy is just doing for his fucking name and fame and he doesn't want to do it. He just want to climb mountain and he's doing that. But they didn't really knew what I was really doing. And, but it touched me because I'm also human, right? And I was driving back on M3 motorway and I had tears in my eyes and I was like I was like crying out loud. And because at this point I was bursting, you know, because I had given up this prestige career.

I had given up my job. I have sold my house, pension, everything. And and I'm trying to do this good thing. And people are like my own people are saying that it's a bit too much. So I was like bursting in tears and I pulled my car in a lay-by off the motorway. And I was like, okay, now what can I think? And I was like, you know what, Nims, you said that this project is never about you. You said that you wanted to change the world for the better purpose. You said that you want to completely paradigm shift in perception of human potential. You said that you're going to give justice to the Nepalese climbing community. Come on, how you feel it doesn't matter. So that's

the centrality of the mission. And I wipe up my tears and I drop down. Now, 18 months later i will tell you this the gherkas didn't had we don't have the equal equal rights equal pension in the british military even though we have served for so many years okay so the gherkas have got more vc victoria cross is the highest awarded you know you know bravery medal you can get the gherka regiment has got more than any other regiment. We still didn't have the equal pension. So then there was a campaign by our own people, the Gurkhas, the retired, you know, Gurkhas, like, fighting on number 10 on the parliament saying that, hey, we need the equal pension.

And even to have the debate on parliament, you need to have 100,000 of petition signed. Okay. So they have done everything they could and they had only 23,000 petition signed. I took over in a week. I made that 100K. And it's a bigger impact, bigger reason. And that's from the small perspective.

And when people say negative to me in my life, Joe, what I say is like, you know what? That's all they can think of because well you know nobody wants to be bad nobody wants to be that you know you know like negative person maybe he's saying that because that is what he's limited to or she's limited to i'm there who i can think bigger i'm there because i can i can you know i have this different mindset. So forget that. So I keep those things to the side and I move forward. But again, things, you know, when I say the bigger purpose, bigger reason, there is there. And I use the power of social media for the right cause.

You know, like, again, I see how it is. And yeah. There's a quote. I think it's Mark Twain. He said, throughout history, great spirits have encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds. Yeah. And I think that's, I might be paraphrasing. I might have fucked it up.

This is, it's Albert Einstein. Oh, is it really? Oh, there you go. Is that what he says? Did I say it right? Great spirits have always faced violent opposition from mediocre minds. Albert Einstein. I thought it was Mark Twain.

But that, there is something to that, man, that there's a, do you know what crabs in a bucket are? Do you know that expression? No. No. to that man that there's a do you know what crabs in a bucket are do you know that expression no if you put a bunch of crabs in a bucket some crabs will try to get out of the bucket and as they're trying to climb the other crabs will pull them down yeah and that's what it is is some people that live these timid existences that live these timid lives and don't take chances and don't that live these timid lives and don't take chances and don't, they don't try to leave a mark. They don't try to do anything extraordinary.

They get upset when other people do. Some people get upset at other people's success. Other people celebrate other people's success. This is the difference in a lot of folks. Some people will try to find the negative in people. Other people will try to find the positive in people. Other people will try to find the positive in people. What you did when someone stole your oxygen. Even though you were lying to yourself,

you decided to frame it in a positive way that someone is gonna go home to their family, that saves someone's life with that oxygen. This is the, there's patterns of thinking and some people are, they are a prisoner to their own pattern of thinking and they don't even realize it and maybe they do maybe they know somewhere subconsciously that what they're doing is detrimental to their own existence but they can't help themselves and then they lash out at other folks they try to find external reasons for why they're unhappy external reasons why they're bitter so they look to other people that are successful and they try to find external reasons for why they're unhappy, external reasons why they're bitter.

So they look to other people that are successful, and they try to find the worst aspects of those people. Oh, Nims is just doing it for himself. He just wants attention. And now, now that you've already done it, and now that you have a gigantic documentary on Netflix, and now that you're here on this podcast, now that the world is getting to hear your story, now they must be very angry. And that's... Why though?

You know, like why? I think why can't people change this mindset? There's a lesson. There's a lesson in there for everyone else. Those people, whether they realize it or not, they are, their failure to reason correctly, to think well in a positive manner they're they're they're a lesson for other people the observers on the outside get to look at these bitter fools

and go oh i see what you're doing i see what you're doing yeah i see what you're doing and there's so many people like that nims you just Yeah, Joe. And you know what I really believe in is also like we're human beings. Nobody's perfect. You tell me anyone who's like perfect. No, even like let's say, you know, like from Albert Einstein to Bruce Lee, Muhammad Ali, all these greatest people, you name it. There's always people criticizing. There's always people, right? But why is that you

know guys can we not can we not be like a bit open-minded now we are at the century i think we need to no you can you can and powerful people can and positive people can but there's always going to be negative people there's always going to be weak people it's just it's just nature man you see it in chickens it's a pecking order. There's a weak chicken. The other one's like, peck, peck, peck, peck. They start pecking at the chicken. It's just natural.

There's some people that just can't help lash out at other people. And what they fail to realize is the energy that they spend attacking another person is energy they could have spent elevating their own life. Exactly. Exactly, brother. They're stealing from themselves without even realizing it. Mate, you hit the nail on the head there. That's what it is, man. Why are you focusing on dragging other people,

spending so much of your energy, time, and everything when you can actually do good things for yourself and you can be that other happy person? Because they're trapped in a pattern of thinking where they feel that if someone is excelling past their own personal limitations or past their own personal success, they feel bad because they feel jealous and they feel envious. So what they do is they lash out at that person and they try to find something negative about them. It's so common. It's so normal.

about them. It's so common. It's so normal, but it's really, they're stealing from themselves because your time and your energy is so valuable and time that you spend worrying about what other people are accomplishing. Instead of what I like to do is I'm friends with a lot of these people like David Goggins and Cam Haines, and now I'm friends with you and people that do extraordinary things they're fuel their energy they give you something by being around these people you realize that so many accomplishments are possible that people never attempt because the the the human condition that the human spirit is is limitless there's so much a person can do 100% and if you spend your time criticizing you spend your time trying to find the holes instead of like recognizing in your area yeah I like I like to compliment people I don't even like I like it's an exercise people I

think are shitty people but they do amazing things I like to compliment their amazing aspects. And just acknowledge the fact that they're cunts. But like say, even that, look at all the good stuff that guy's done. He's pretty impressive. There's value in that. There's value also in for you as a person that you can put aside jealousy and your petty envy and recognize that other people's success does not equal your

failure and that you can benefit from other people's success because it elevates your own ideas of what's possible. Mate, you smashed it. And you know what, Joe? The big thing what I also realize is once you become successful, the enemies are not from the outside. The enemies are from that circle who you have been with. Yes. Because those are the people who cannot be you, but they think they can be you. And those people started dragging

because they have been hanging around with you and they have known you and they don't realize how much of hard work and the things that you have put together. They don't see that. They don't care. They're like, oh, yeah, I've been with this guy. I know him.

I spend now. He's that successful guy, and yes, I could be that. And those are also the people. But the whole point here is, guys, there's so much negativity in this world. But you know what? Don't even focus on that. There's so much negativity in this world. But you know what?

Don't even focus on that. You know, there's a very famous quote saying that if you are moving from A to B and there are loads of dogs who are barking at you, if you start throwing every dog that is barking at you, you'll never reach your destination. So let them bark. Let them bark. You go towards your mission. Yes, sir. Let them bark. We should your mission Yes sir Let him bark We should end with that

My brother Thank you very much For coming here Thank you Really appreciate you It's been an honor And a pleasure to meet you The documentary

Is 14 Peaks It's on Netflix Right now And it's extraordinary It really is Thank you brother It means a lot I can't wait to see you again

When you do something else crazy Wow Very soon then my brother Very soon Alright well You're always welcome It really is. Thank you, brother. It means a lot. I can't wait to see you again when you do something else crazy. Well, very soon then, my brother. Very soon. All right. Well, you're always welcome. Open invitation. Thank you. Thank you, brother.

Bye, everybody. Bye.