I was awestruck when I saw Free Solo for the first time and saw Alex Hannold taking over the gigantic El Capitan in less than 4 hours. When I was in Yosemite in the Spring of Feb’20, I could not comprehend the sheer audacity of Alex to take on something that is nearly impossible.
I felt the same respect and admiration for Nims Purja today. The Netflix documentary 14 Peaks echoes the determination of Nims to ascend the 14 most difficult mountains in the world in less than 7 months. Notably, the same ascends took Reinhold Messner 16 years — which of course, was an impossible feat in itself at that time.
The sheer dedication towards the craft, the infinitesimally small probability of being successful and then accomplishing that makes these folks immortals among the mortals.
What we don’t realize is that these folks are not just 1 in thousands or millions, they truly are 1 in a billion.
I don’t think there will be more than 7 people in the world who could free solo El Capitan or climb the 14 toughest peaks in the world in less than 7 months; so far we have only 1 for both.