14 Peaks: Nothing Is Impossible | |
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Directed by | Torquil Jones |
Written by | Gabriel Clarke Torquil Jones |
Produced by | John McKenna Barry Smith Drew Masters Catherine Quantschnigg Mark Webber |
Starring | Nirmal Purja |
Edited by | Ian Grech |
Music by | Nainita Desai |
Production company | Noah Media Group |
Distributed by | Netflix |
Release date |
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Running time | 101 minutes |
Languages | Nepali English |
14 Peaks: Nothing Is Impossible is a 2021 documentary film directed by Torquil Jones, and produced by Noah Media Group, Little Monster Films and Torquil Jones with Nirmal Purja, Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Vasarhelyi as executive producers. The film follows Nepalese mountaineer Nirmal Purja and his team as they attempt to climb all 14 eight-thousander peaks within a record time of under seven months. The previous record was over seven years.
A significant portion of the footage was taken by the expedition team, while additional images and interviews were added later by the director, including interviews with Reinhold Messner (who called the feat "a unique statement in the history of mountaineering"), and other major high-altitude mountaineers, [1] and Purja's family (including his wife and brothers). The film premiered at the DOC NYC Film Festival, and was released on Netflix on 29 November 2021.
The documentary is about Project Possible, a plan by Nepali high altitude climber Nirmal Purja to climb all of the world's 14 highest peaks with an altitude greater than 8,000 metres (26,247 ft) (called eight-thousanders) inside 7 months (i.e. from early spring to late summer, before the winter season begins). The actual climbing took 6 months and 6 days between April 2019 to October 2019. The first person to climb the 14 eight-thousanders was Italian climber Reinhold Messner who took 16 years between 1970 and 1986 and completed the feat without the use of supplementary oxygen. [2] By 2013, the feat had been achieved in 7 years and 310 days by South Korean climber Kim Chang, who also did not use supplementary oxygen. [3] Purja decided to use oxygen above 7,500 metres (24,600 ft) for Project Possible based on prior experiences when not using oxygen on past eight-thousander climbs would have stopped him from saving the lives of stricken climbers (something he ended up doing several times during the project). [4] In 2021, when leading a larger all-Nepali team to complete the first winter ascent of K2, Purja did not use oxygen. [5]
Messner appears several times in the film talking about eight-thousanders and what Purja was trying to do; Purja met Messner after suffering a bad fall on Nanga Parbat but Messner gave him encouragement to keep going, with Purja recounting: "He looked into my eyes and said, 'You can do it'. He told me to my face, and he hadn't even seen my climb. When he did the 8000-ers, the whole mountaineering community was against him, but he proved the concept. He did it when the world couldn't see his vision". [4] He set the record of climbing 14 peaks.
The documentary begins on April 23, 2019, with Purja attempting Annapurna, statistically, the most dangerous eight-thousander. Purja joins with Canadian climber Don Bowie who has failed several times on Annapurna. However, Purja encourages Bowie to come with his team and they are successful summiting on 23 April, with Bowie saying "This guy believed they were gonna do it, and they pushed thru". [6] The following day, Purja returns up the mountain to rescue a stricken climber (later identified as Malaysian climber Wui Kin Chin) which is successful (although Chin would die days later in Singapore). [7] The rescue meant Purja lost his "weather window" for Dhaulagiri, which his team summits in bad weather on 12 May. [4] Purja then summits Kanchenjunga on 15 May in a single 22-hour push passing all camps. While descending from the summit, at 8,450 m (27,720 ft) and still in the death zone, Purja and his team encounter two stricken Indian climbers (later identified as Kuntal Karar and Biplab Baidya); [8] despite giving them all their oxygen and waiting for 12 hours for help which never arrives, one dies in Purja's arms, while the other succumbs at camp 4 – Purja suffers HACE helping a third lost climber. [4] [8]
Behind schedule and questioning himself after the deaths on Annapurna and Kanchenjunga, Purja summits the three neighboring eight-thousanders of Everest on 22 May, Lhotse on 22 May, and Makalu on 24 May, in a record 48-hour push, taking a photograph of a large queue that had formed at the Hillary Step on Everest, which went viral and was re-printed on the front of the New York Times . [4] The film breaks back to the period before the climbing started, with interviews from Purja's wife and brothers about his early life and career in the Gurkas and the Special Boat Squadron (SBS), and the sacrifices and financial risks that Purja took to create Project Possible. We also learn that his mother is unwell, and of a near-death experience from a sniper bullet to the face while on duty with the SBS. [6]
Purja then moves to the Karakoram eight-thousanders summiting Nanga Parbat on 3 July, but taking a 100 m (300 ft) fall while descending that was only arrested when he managed to grab hold of a random fixed rope that had been left behind. [4] [6] Purja tells the camera: "I always say to myself, I'm not going to die today. Maybe tomorrow, but not today". [4] He then summits Gasherbrum I on 15 July and Gasherbrum II 18 July. [6] When Purja arrives at K2 (also one of the most dangerous eight-thousanders), spirits at Base Camp are very low, and high levels of avalanches meant that most teams are preparing to abandon their climbs. Purja's team breaks out some bottles and has a party to lift spirits. The next day, Purja and his team begin climbing K2 and lay down fixed ropes in the dangerous Bottleneck section of the climb at 1 am (when the snow is hardest and at its most stable). Purja summits K2 on 24 July, and over the next two days, 24 other climbers use the fixed ropes laid down by his team to summit the mountain. [6] Two days later, Purja summits Broad Peak on 26 July, thus completing a 23-day push to climb the 5 eight-thousanders in the Karakoram. [6]
Purja rushes back to Kathmandu to be with his mother who has suffered a heart attack. He then returns to summit Cho Oyu on 23 September, and Manaslu on 27 September. [6] He then spends a few weeks lobbying Nepali politicians to help him secure a permit from the Chinese to climb Shishapangma in Tibet, which he successfully summits on 29 October 2019. [6] Purja calls his now dying mother from the summit "we did it". [6] Later we see Purja reunited with his mother and the world's media to celebrate the conclusion of his Project Possible. [4]
The documentary features: [10]
Purja told Climbing that Project Possible was a way of countering the constant skepticism he encountered before starting, and particularly raising sponsorship for the project, as he struggled to convince investors that his goals were realistic and that he was the climber to achieve them. When he summited the first peak, Annapurna I on 23 April 2019, Purja had only locked down 15 percent of the financing he needed, and most of this money had come from remortgaging his own UK house. [5] However, as the climbing developed, Purja was able to raise funds both through GoFundMe campaigns, and corporate sponsorship (e.g. rebranding the project as Bremont Project Possible). [5] [4] Purja told Redbull, "It's been one financial risk after the other", and "I always say this project has been 'horrifically amazing'". [4]
During the project, Purja was supported by a rotating team of Nepalese climbers, several of whom are introduced in the film, including Mingma David Sherpa, Geljen Sherpa, Lakpa Dendi Sherpa, and Gesman Tamang, however, only Purja would complete the summit of all 14 eight-thousanders during the film. [10]
14 Peaks: Nothing Is Impossible was compiled from the 100 hours of footage taken by Purja and the Nepalese climbing team from April to October 2019. [11] Director Torquil Jones combined Purja's footage, archive footage, animation, and interviews. [12] British-Indian composer Nainita Desai composed the film's score. [13] [14] 14 Peaks: Nothing Is Impossible is produced by Torquil Jones, and executively produced by Nirmal Purja, Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi under the banner of Noah Media Group, Little Monster Films. [15]
All music is composed by Nainita Desai
No. | Title | Length |
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1. | "14 Peaks – Opening" | 1:27 |
2. | "The 8000ers" | 2:15 |
3. | "Project Possible" | 2:49 |
4. | "The First Summit" | 2:11 |
5. | "Annapurna" | 0:59 |
6. | "A Hero In The Making" | 3:25 |
7. | "The Rescue" | 2:00 |
8. | "Shot In Afghanistan" | 1:04 |
9. | "HACE and the Yeti" | 1:58 |
10. | "Life Decisions" | 4:02 |
11. | "Climbing Everest" | 1:59 |
12. | "Mountain Jam" | 2:56 |
13. | "Breathe" | 1:03 |
14. | "One Peak At A Time" | 1:00 |
15. | "The Fall" | 1:15 |
16. | "Savage Mountain" | 1:46 |
17. | "Life And Death" | 3:44 |
18. | "Mind Over Mountain" | 1:10 |
19. | "Running Out of Air" | 3:02 |
20. | "Swim To The Moon" | 2:49 |
21. | "Abode Of God" | 0:36 |
22. | "Nothing Is Impossible" | 2:04 |
23. | "Mother and Son" | 3:13 |
24. | "Himala Ko Choro" |
No. | Title | Lyrics | Music | Singer(s) | Length |
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1. | "Himala ko Choro" | Swapnil Sharma | Rohit Shakya | Swapnil Sharma | 3:12 |
14 Peaks: Nothing Is Impossible's trailer was released on 2 November 2021. [15] [18] The film was first premiered at the DOC NYC Film Festival. [19] It was released worldwide on 29 November 2021 on Netflix streaming. [20] [21]
On the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 90% based on 10 reviews. [22] Lisa Kennedy of The New York Times praised the film writing, the film "expands a genre often focused on the feats of individuals to celebrate lessons about vast dreams and communal bonds". [10] The Los Angeles Times 's Gary Goldstein noted that 14 Peaks: Nothing Is Impossible is a "uniquely stirring journey". [12] Nell Minow writing for RogerEbert.com gave the film 3 out of 4 stars and penned that Nirmal Purja and his team "deserve to be as renowned as Sir Edmund Hillary, maybe more". [23] Gary M. Kramer of Salon enthused over the film as it "motivates viewers to get off the couch and go climb a mountain". [24] Pasang Dorjee of The Kathmandu Post said that he was awestruck "by the wonders that lie within your own country is a uniquely mesmerising feeling" and praised Nirmal Purja for his "courage, perseverance, and tenacity". [25] Abhishek Srivastava of The Times of India applauded the film for carrying "a very strong message of teamwork, perseverance, dedication and national pride". [26]
Year | Award | Category | Recipient | Result | Ref(s) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
2021 | Hollywood Music in Media Awards | Best Original Score – Documentary | Nainita Desai | Nominated | [27] |
2022 | British Academy Film Awards | Best Documentary | 14 Peaks: Nothing Is Impossible | Longlisted | [28] |
Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards | Outstanding Music Composition for a Documentary Series or Special (Original Dramatic Score) | Nainita Desai | Nominated | [29] |
K2, at 8,611 metres (28,251 ft) above sea level, is the second-highest mountain on Earth, after Mount Everest at 8,849 metres (29,032 ft). It lies in the Karakoram range, partially in the Gilgit-Baltistan region of Pakistan-administered Kashmir and partially in the China-administered Trans-Karakoram Tract in the Taxkorgan Tajik Autonomous County of Xinjiang.
Annapurna is a mountain situated in the Annapurna mountain range of Gandaki Province, north-central Nepal. It is the 10th highest mountain in the world at 8,091 metres (26,545 ft) above sea level and is well known for the difficulty and danger involved in its ascent.
Lhotse is the fourth-highest mountain on Earth, after Mount Everest, K2, and Kangchenjunga. At an elevation of 8,516 metres (27,940 ft) above sea level, the main summit is on the border between Tibet Autonomous Region of China and the Khumbu region of Nepal.
Reinhold Andreas Messner is an Italian climber, explorer, and author from the German-speaking province of South Tyrol. He made the first solo ascent of Mount Everest and, along with Peter Habeler, the first ascent of Everest without supplemental oxygen. He was the first person to climb all 14 eight-thousanders, doing so without supplementary oxygen. Messner was the first to cross Antarctica and Greenland with neither snowmobiles nor dog sleds and also crossed the Gobi Desert alone. He is widely considered to be the greatest mountaineer of all time.
Cho Oyu is the sixth-highest mountain in the world at 8,188 metres (26,864 ft) above sea level. Cho Oyu means "Turquoise Goddess" in Tibetan. The mountain is the westernmost major peak of the Khumbu sub-section of the Mahalangur Himalaya 20 km west of Mount Everest. The mountain stands on the China–Nepal border, between the Tibet Autonomous Region and Koshi Province.
The eight-thousanders are the 14 mountains recognized by the International Mountaineering and Climbing Federation (UIAA) as being more than 8,000 metres (26,247 ft) in height above sea level, and sufficiently independent of neighbouring peaks. There is no precise definition of the criteria used to assess independence, and at times, the UIAA has considered whether the list should be expanded to 20 mountain peaks by including the major satellite peaks of eight-thousanders. All of the eight-thousanders are located in the Himalayan and Karakoram mountain ranges in Asia, and their summits lie in an altitude known as the death zone.
Broad Peak is one of the eight-thousanders, and is located in the Karakoram range spanning Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan and Xinjiang, China. It is the 12th highest mountain in the world with 8,051 metres (26,414 ft) elevation above sea level. The first ascent of this mountain was in June 1957, accomplished by Fritz Wintersteller, Marcus Schmuck, Kurt Diemberger, and Hermann Buhl as part of an Austrian expedition.
Scott Eugene Fischer was an American mountaineer and mountain guide. He was renowned for ascending the world's highest mountains without supplemental oxygen. Fischer and Wally Berg were the first Americans to summit Lhotse, the world's fourth highest peak. Fischer, Charley Mace, and Ed Viesturs summitted K2 without supplemental oxygen. Fischer first climbed Mount Everest in 1994 and later died during the 1996 blizzard on Everest while descending from the peak.
Edmund Viesturs is an American high-altitude mountaineer, corporate speaker, and well known author in the mountain climbing community. He was the first American to climb all 14 of the eight-thousander mountains, and the 5th person to do so without supplemental oxygen. Along with Apa Sherpa, he has summitted eight-thousanders on 21 occasions, including Mount Everest seven times.
Vladyslav "Slava" Oleksandrovych Terzyul, was a Ukrainian alpinist.
Andrew James Lock OAM is an Australian mountaineer. He became the first, and still remains the only, Australian to climb all 14 "eight-thousanders" on 2 October 2009, and is the 18th person to ever complete this feat. He climbed 13 of the 14 without bottled oxygen, only using it on Mount Everest, which he has summited three times. He retired from eight-thousander climbing in 2012.
Alberto Iñurrategi Iriarte is a Basque Spanish mountaineer born in Aretxabaleta, Gipuzkoa, Basque Country. In the year 2002, he became the second Basque and Spaniard and the 10th person to climb the 14 eight-thousanders.
Chhang Dawa Sherpa : is a Nepalese mountaineer and the youngest climber till 2019 to summit the 14 highest peaks. Dawa and his brother Mingma Sherpa together hold the world record as "first brothers to summit the 14 highest peaks", a single record shared by the two.
Kim Chang-ho, was a South Korean mountaineer, and at the time of his death in 2018, was considered to be Korea's most prolific alpine and Himalayan climber, noted for his bold and lightweight alpine style ascents.
Nirmal Purja is a Nepal-born naturalised British mountaineer. Prior to taking on a career in mountaineering, he served in the British Army with the Brigade of Gurkhas followed by the Special Boat Service (SBS), the special forces unit of the Royal Navy. Purja is notable for having climbed all 14 eight-thousanders in a time of six months and six days with the aid of bottled oxygen between April and October 2019. This was a record at the time of climbing, although it was broken in 2023 by Kristin Harila and Tenjen Sherpa, who summitted all 14 eight-thousanders in 92 days. Purja was the first person to reach the summits of Mount Everest, Lhotse and Makalu within 48 hours. In 2021, Purja, along with a team of nine other Nepalese climbers, completed the first winter ascent of K2.
Mingma Gyabu Sherpa, is a Nepalese mountaineer and rescue climber. He is the youngest person to climb all 14 eight-thousanders, and holds the Guinness World Record for "Fastest time to climb Everest and K2", which he did within 61 days.
Sanu Sherpa is a Nepalese mountaineer from Makalu, Sankhuwasabha. On 21 July 2022, he became the first person to climb all 14 of the eight-thousanders, twice-over. He made his first ascent of all the 14 eight-thousanders, between 2006 and 2019, becoming the 42nd person ever to do so. Before starting climbing as a porter, Sanu was previously a herdsman in Sankhuwasabha District in his early life.
Mingma Dorchi Sherpa is a Nepali sherpa mountaineer and a professional trekking guide from Sankhuwasabha District, Nepal. He holds the Guinness World Record for being the fastest person to step on the summit of both Mount Everest and Lhotse in a record time of 6 hours and 1 minute.
Kristin Harila is a Norwegian-Northern Saami mountaineer and former cross-country skier. During 2022–2023, she set multiple speed records for the ascent of all 14 eight-thousanders, which are the peaks in the world that are over 8,000 metres in elevation.
Tenjen Sherpa, also known as Tenjen Lama Sherpa, was a Nepalese mountaineer who climbed all 14 eight-thousander together with Kristin Harila in 92 days. He went missing after an avalanche hit on Shishapangma on 7 October 2023. He was declared dead by Chinese authorities on 8 October 2023.