Beyond Possible: One Man, Fourteen Peaks, and the Mountaineering Achievement of a Lifetime

Nepalese climber Purja debuts with a propulsive account of successfully climbing the “Earth’s fourteen Death Zone peaks” in record-breaking time. In 2018, after years of serving as a Gurkha soldier in the British military, he embarked on a “wild effort” to reach the pinnacles of the world’s 14 tallest mountains in fewer than seven months, an attempt that would “shatter” the previous world record of seven years. With the summits of each rising above 8,000 meters, Purja writes, “the air is so lacking in oxygen that human bodies and brains wither and fail.” His exhilarating narrative captures the physical and mental toll he experienced while careening down the sides of mountains and ascending lethally steep slopes in “brutal, whiteout conditions.” In addition to recounting topping Everest in Nepal and K2 in Pakistan, Purja writes memorably about his time in the Nepalese regiment of the British Armed Forces, reflecting fondly on a career that both sharpened his skills as a climber—giving him “access to a variety of highly specialized [mountain warfare] courses”—and deepened the pride he felt around his culture, an aspect of mountaineering that has often gone overlooked. This is a fascinating and inspiring look at a life lived on the edge. (Jan.)