In this spellbinding memoir , Nimsdai Purja tells the story of his life before his recent epic achievement of leading the team that scaled K2 in winter. He reveals how leadership, a willingness to learn, integrity and collaboration are essential qualities behind the world's greatest mountaineering feats. The first man ever to summit all 8000m 'Death Zone' peaks in less than seven months (the previous record was seven years), Purja reveals the man behind the climbs--and how his early life in Nepal and Special Forces training made him the person to go beyond the possible. Excerpt below: "My comfort zone begins where most individuals quit. "As a kid in Nepal, I went barefoot because my family had nothing. That's how I developed the resilience I needed for joining the Gurkhas, one of the most fearless forces in the British Army. Then, against all odds, I became the first ever Gurkha soldier in more than 200 years of history to join the Special Boat Service where I served in the some of the world's most dangerous war zones, kicking down doors to capture enemy gunmen and terrorist bomb makers. "But elite combat wasn't enough.

I wanted more of a test. That's where my next project came in, something nobody thought was possible--to climb all fourteen 'death zone' mountains in seven months. The previous standard for conquering the world's most dangerous peaks was seven years, ten months, and six days. I smashed through that achievement in six months, breaking several world records in the process. I'd have been even quicker had I not been called in to lead four perilous, high-altitude rescue missions. "I knew that to quit on the mountain was to die. Even though I'd only started my climbing a few years earlier, as a hobby, I found I was able to adapt quickly to the deadly conditions. I was rarely phased by the lung-burning temperatures or brutal winds and fatigue seemed to pass me by.

Fear became irrelevant because I had belief. In the death zone, I came alive. There were intimidating challenges to negotiate away from the mountains, too. Financial hurdles had to be overcome in order to fund an expedition with a six-figure price tag. Political negotiations with the Chinese government were required to ensure my entry to Shishapangma. And as I broke several world records, my mother was hospitalized. As the youngest son in a Nepalese family I was duty bound to care for her. My world fell apart.

But this is what happens when ambition meets limitless imagination. "Beyond Possible is the inside story of my incredible adventure.".