Written by Hon Alderman Glynn W Davies-Dear.
We come, finally, to the youngest brother Nirmal. He is known now throughout the world as Nimsdai. He has achieved the most extraordinary things in his relatively short life so far.
Nirmal entered the Brigade of Gurkhas in 2003 but after some four years with the Gurkha Engineers, his thirst for challenge and adventure drew him to the British Special Services. He gravitated to the Special Boat Service (SBS) of the Royal Navy. The first Gurkha to do so. He qualified and served with this elite service, and even qualified as a submarine pilot. Yet another mark of the exceptional qualities of the children of this remarkable family.
Then, in his spare time, he took to mountaineering, especially in the Himalayas. He married his wife Suchie in 2009 and later they moved to live in Eastleigh with his brothers. He is now the proud father of the beautiful daughter, Himani. Unbelievably, the first time he climbed Mt Everest, he climbed it accompanied by just one, totally inexperienced Sherpa. Descending from the summit alone, his Sherpa having descended earlier, Nirmal rescued an exhausted woman climber, abandoned and left to die on the mountain at risk to his own life.
He was later to lead expeditions to climb the mountain: first a group of Marines and then a group of Gurkhas. His exploits thus far earned him the award by HM Queen Elizabeth of the MBE.
Nirmal then retired from the Services, forgoing his entitlement to a pension in order to set up his own adventure climbing business in Nepal. He has achieved World-Wide acclaim by envisaging and accomplishing the extraordinary feat of smashing the established climbing record for the 14 highest peaks in the world, all in the Himalayas, all over 8,000m high: the dread “Death Zone” of mountains. The record stood at 8 years 11months, but Nirmal, with the support of his hand-picked team, completed the feat in just 6 months 6 days. Nirmal named this ‘Project Possible’ and one of his avowed aims was to prove the truth of what he had always believed and that was that anything is possible for man to achieve given belief and determination.
It has to be said, that there were members of the family terribly worried over Project Possible. His brothers, loving him, frankly, feared for his life. I was one of them. We knew the truth that the Himalayas take a terrible tole on those attempting them. Deaths occur not just sometimes but regularly. 8,000m is not called the Death Zone for nothing. I worried, additionally, that Nims had taken on fearful debts that could not be covered by promised pledges if he were to die on the mountain and thus fail in his record attempt. All our fears were aspects solely of our love for him. But Nims was proved right and we were, thankfully, proved wrong.
You can read the full story of this amazing adventure and indeed of his life to date, in his book, “Beyond Possible, One soldier, fourteen peaks. My life in the Death Zone”.
He has, since, further amazed the mountaineering world by climbing K2 again, but this time leading his team to conquer this most formidable and second highest mountain, in Winter. The one Himalayan peak never before reached in winter. Nirmal, alone in the group, and perhaps in response to a challenge made, did this without the aid of oxygen. He has recently set a further record by climbing all fourteen peaks without oxygen.
There is a driving force that takes Nirmal. Some might say a devil that drives him on. But if it is a devil, it is of a strangely beneficent sort. He just has a belief in the capabilities of man and a mission to demonstrate what determination and self-belief can achieve. For Nirmal, it has not been enough to climb the highest peaks; his gaze has gone higher than the mountains. He has made it his life’s work to force recognition, respect and decent remuneration for the Sherpa people, without whom the mountains could not be conquered and sadly lacking in the past. And the registered charity, the Nimsdai Foundation he has created has already amassed a great record of financial support for the needy and especially youth here in Britain, in Nepal of course and elsewhere.
And that is what I most admire in him. He has my unreserved admiration and respect.
Nirmal would readily agree that his achievements are built on a foundation of the inspired example of his revered parents and of his siblings: this very special family. Nirmal is an exceptional man, a giant, but the well-known truism of standing on the shoulders of giants is true in this exceptional family.
But there is a darker side to glory: to Nirmal’s achievements, which must be examined.
We have a saying, arising, I suppose, from the trenches of WW1, Western Front. “If you stick your head above the parapet, someone is sure to take a shot at you.” Meaning, of course, be careful in standing out from the crowd for arousing the jealousy of lesser mortals. And of late there are lesser members of the climbing fraternity who have taken every opportunity to take potshots at Nimsdai. It is common enough: if you can believe an idol has feet of clay then it makes your lack of achievement less hurtful to you.
I had always imagined that there was a common sense of honour and mutual respect among climbers. Alas I am sadly disillusioned in this. I expect no-one attacks Nimsdai to his face but there has been, and continues to be, a multi-headed campaign, in the media, of inuendo, denigration and outright slander aimed at him. Intended, I suspect, to damage his reputation and the market for his Kathmandu & UK based adventure business & even to the Nimsdai Foundation.
I am sorry to say, this sorry behaviour is only to be expected in this day and age. I leave the details of this sordid story, only to say that if there were validity to some of the “mud” thrown, I would have thought that running off to the newspapers & social media rather than taking more dignified action speaks more to the character and motivation of the accusers and critics than anything.
I am confident that Nirmal already has risen above all this. I am equally confident that he has done more than enough through his achievements and especially his championing of the Sherpa community to secure the respect of the more respectable members of the World’s climbing community.
