03/08/2026
Project Possible days in KGH,Thamel …
Now that the news we were all dreading has been confirmed that there were no survivors from the avalanche on Thursday on Broad Peak, it leaves me feeling pretty empty and tremendously sad.
A team of 10 climbers including experienced climbing Sherpa led by Nims have tragically been lost. They were all doing what they loved, and for it to end like this is just so heartbreakingly sad.
Of course there is always risk, and you do your best to be safe, but s**t happens…
My path crossed with Nims during the 2019 Everest Expedition. He had reached out to me in October of 2018 on Instagram as I was gearing up for my climb. He simply wrote “Hi Jamie, seen your comments on your Everest attempt. Let me know if you need any help”.
He was already planning his ‘Project Possible’ and I knew exactly who he was as I’d been following his crazy antics and wondering if this guy could actually achieve all 14 of the highest mountains above 8,000m in just 7 months (Spoiler alert - He did!)
Arriving at the Kathmandu Guest House on the 8th of April, who should I bump into but the legend himself! It was Nims! We sat chatting over a beer in the garden with some of his team as they were busy editing photos on a laptop with all the excitement that surrounded ‘Project Possible’. At that time, they were trying hard to generate as much publicity as they could for the huge project ahead. They had all just returned from summiting their first 8000m mountain for the 14 summits attempt which was Annapurna. Nims told me that he had sold his house to try and fund some of it, but not all of it. It was a huge gamble in more ways than one.
A few days later I headed to Tibet to climb the North Side and Nims went off to climb the South side in Nepal.
Some weeks later in late May, we were both heading for the summit from our respective sides and this was the moment Nims took the infamous photo of the queues heading towards the summit which went viral and well-and-truly put the global spotlight on this Everest expedition. 11 climbers tragically lost their lives, with overcrowding being blamed as the main cause in the media storm that followed, but there were many other impact factors at play that season.
When I returned back to the Kathmandu Guest House, I was pretty beaten up. I had lost a lot of weight, and was still reeling from the loss of a teammate. I found myself sitting quietly in the garden with a beer in hand when I heard a familiar voice, “Hey Jamie, how are you mate, how did you get on?” It was Nims. We swapped stories for a while over a beer and he said, “Hey, tonight you and your team have to come party with us, we’ll be in Inferno”. I thought to myself, “Jeez, this guy still has energy to party!?” I was considering just going to bed.
I managed to grab a quick photo of us together with his banner before heading back to my room for a nap.
Later that evening I arrived at Inferno with a few of my teammates that I had convinced it was a good idea to go out. The music was booming and as I pushed open the door, there was Nims in the middle of the dance floor with a bottle of Champagne in each hand! His Sherpa crew were dancing around him and they were all having the best time. Work hard, play hard I guess!? He saw me and shouted “Hey Jamie, you guys made it!” With that he thrust a bottle of Champagne in my hand and we partied on…
That will be my lasting memory of Nims.
He was an inspiration to me like many others. Down to earth. Willing to help anyone. And someone you could have a beer with.
Such a huge loss to the mountaineering community.
Keep climbing up there Nims.
R.I.P Dai.
