nmjameswilson wrote: ↑Tue Oct 29, 2019 7:35 am
He beat the record by 7 YEARS and 4 months.
Nirmal Purja is indeed a good climber and his record is incredibly impressive. He has my congradulations and deserves to be honored.
I don't think it's a fair comparison to the previous records though (those set by Messner, Kukuczka, and Chang-ho).
It's still an impressive record, but a different kind of record.
With the exception of Annapurna, Kukuczka climbed all of the 8000ers either by new routes or first winter ascents and without support or supplimental O2.
Purja climbed the mountains (with the exception of K2) with someone else setting up all the fixed lines, camps, and supplies ahead of time, and didn't haul any of his own loads. He also flew from mountain to mountain landing in the base or high camps, rather than at the normal starting points for the peaks. Not only is that a lot faster, but he could choose his weather windows by doing so. He also had a huge supply of bottled O2.
So, his record is still a record and very impressive, but it's kind of an apples and oranges comparison when compared to previous records.
Although the 8000er record is much harder, a comparison could be made on the Colorado 14ers.
If someone had access to air support, drove nearly to the top of Evans and Pikes, and flew into places like Chicago Basin, Snowmass Lake, Capitol Lake, etc., but still summitted all of the peaks, would it still be the 14er record?
I guess it would be a 14er record, but a different type of record than Cavedog's or other's previous records.
PS, I'm not saying that Purja flew to any summits as close as you can drive to Pikes Peak or Evans or that the record isn't a record or that it isn't incredibly impressive. It is impressive and it is a record. I congradulate Purja.
It just seems like a different type of record than the previous ones. It's still really cool either way though.
I wonder if the record will lead to controversy? I hope not, especially since it will take away from the accomplishment, but it might. I guess we'll just have to wait and see how the mountaineering community reacts. I'm just guessing that there are going to be arguements from both sides when discussing the record, or records in the future.