This episode is sponsored by 5 .11, a company
I've used personally for well over a decade and
continue to use to this day. And they are offering
you, the audience of the Behind the Show podcast,
a discount. Before I get to that, I want to highlight
a couple of products. So footwear has been a
big issue and we all know that these heavy duty
work boots cause a lot of issues with joint health
and fatigue. Listening to the responders in the
field, the military in the field, 5 .11 have
reverse engineered and created some incredible
footwear that is much more lightweight, just
as durable, and minimizes both fatigue and damage
to the joints. One of those is the Norris sneaker.
I have a pair of those myself. They are incredible.
And the other one is the AT trainer that has
the Atlas system, which spreads the weight of
the load over the entire foot, thus reducing
fatigue and long -term damage. Aside from footwear,
they have the backpacks. I have the AMP pack
myself. There's civilian clothes, the jeans,
the shorts. I absolutely live in these days.
The flashlights are some of the brightest I've
seen and they last an incredibly long time on
one charge. The list goes on and on. Now, because
5 .11 cares about you, the tactical population,
they are offering you a discount of 15 % on every
purchase that you make. So go to 5 .11 Tactical,
use the code SHIELD, S -H -I -E -L -D, and save
15 % every time you shop. And if you want to
learn even more about the company, listen to
episode 338 with co -founder and CEO Francisco
Morales. This episode is brought to you by GovX.
And as you know, I only have companies on here
that I truly use and believe in myself. And GovX
is a complete no -brainer. If you are a member
of fire, police, EMS, corrections, military,
and even hospital setting doctors and nurses,
you qualify for the free membership to GovX,
which marries us with discounts from so many
companies that you probably already use. And
on top of that, it's not just for active duty,
but also retirees, veterans, and volunteers.
So for our professions, having to purchase so
much of our equipment, every single dollar counts.
And understanding that, GovX has reached out
to you, the Behind the Shield podcast audience,
to offer you an additional saving. On your first
purchase of $50 or more, if you use the code
SHIELD, they will give you an additional $15
off your first purchase. And another layer of
GovX is GovX Gives Back. Every month, they're
going to sell a different patch, and the proceeds
from that patch goes to a charity that supports
either first responders or military. So as I
mentioned before, go to govx .com, G -O -V -X
dot com, register for your free membership, and
save every single time you purchase. Welcome
to episode 379 of Behind the Shield podcast.
As always, my name is James Gearing, and it is
my absolute honor to welcome this week, Nims
Dai. Now, we recorded this a few weeks ago, but
Nims has a brand new book coming out, which will
be released today when I put this out, which
is called Beyond Possible. A background on Nims,
he was a Nepalese Gurkha serving with the British
Army, then transitioned to the SBS, Special Boat
Service, one of the most elite fighting organizations
on the planet. and then transitioned to becoming
an incredibly elite mountain climber, not only
climbing 14 of the highest peaks in record -breaking
time, but also facilitating multiple rescues
as well. So I can't stress how much depth there
is to Nimza's story, how much you need to buy
his book as well. But I'm so, so honored that
I was one of the first people to get the interview
prior to the book coming out. Now, before we
get to that interview, as I say every week, please
just take a moment, go to whichever app you listen
to this on, subscribe to the show, leave feedback,
and leave a rating. Each five -star rating truly
elevates this podcast, making it easier for people
to find. And this is a free library for you,
planet Earth. So all I ask in return is that
you help share these incredible stories men and
women's stories so I can get them to everyone
else who hasn't heard them yet. So with that
being said, I introduce to you Nim's Die. Enjoy.
All right, so Nims, I want to start by saying
thank you so much for taking the time to come
on the podcast. I have been following you now
for a couple of years, I think, since Eric Donohoe
introduced us. But I think now is the perfect
time with the book being ready to be released.
Hey, buddy. Yeah, so good to obviously, you know,
you know, glad to be having this conversation
and obviously glad to see you a bit earlier on
this in Skype as well. James, yeah, it's been
quite a while that, you know, obviously Eric
has been obviously in Nepal with us and all that.
But yeah, great to be connected, Paul. Absolutely.
All right. Well, first question, where on planet
Earth are we finding you today? Well, right now
I'm at my home in Hamsar and I've just been back
here basically for the book launch. So, yeah.
And that's actually in Nepal? No, it's in Hamsar
in England, buddy. I wish I was in Nepal, you
know. Okay. But I got to be here for, obviously,
various interviews and stuff for, obviously,
the book, Beyond Possible. And to be fair, mate,
I'm really excited and all that. So, yeah, it's
all a good thing, I suppose. Beautiful. Well,
yeah, the publisher was kind enough to send me
a copy, and we're definitely going to talk about
that. But it was a great read, just so that you
know ahead of time. So I want to start chronologically.
Where were you born? And then tell me about your
family dynamic, what your parents did and how
many siblings. Okay, so I was born in western
part of Nepal in a very remote area. You know,
we had a really humble upbringing in my family.
Obviously, we got mom and dad. Mom sadly passed
away a couple of months ago, but then we have
five siblings. Our four sons and one daughter,
who is my sister, Anita. And yeah, three of us
are in the Gurkhas. One of my brothers, he just
got retired as a teacher in Nepal. So yeah, that's
us. Well, I'm sorry to hear about your mother
for a start. Hey, thank you, it's okay. So and
then from what I understand, so there's an age
gap between you and your older brothers, is that
right? Yeah, massively. So, you know, as I just
said earlier, we're very poor at the start. You
know, my mom and dad, you know, they eloped to
get married, which was at that point in Nepal
was quite a big crime. So they had nothing, you
know, obviously they used to work in others'
farm. and eventually obviously my brothers were
born um and once they got into the gurkhas um
so obviously they sent me and my sister anita
to to battery school we moved to chitwan which
is the most flat and warm part of the country
but yeah there is gap between me and my you know
elder brother is 18 and half year old so that's
why you know They could, you know, send us to,
you know, Goody School and all that once they
join the Gurkhas, if that, you know, makes sense.
No, absolutely. So for people listening, obviously
being British, I'm a little bit more of the,
you know, a little more aware of the Gurkhas.
But tell me about the history of the Gurkhas,
how they came about with their interaction with
the British armies. I think it's a pretty fascinating
story. Yeah, so somewhere around 205 years ago
when the British Empire was in India trying to
take over the world, of course Nepal being a
neighboring country, they tried to take over
Nepal. But what happened was neither the British
could win or neither the Nepalese. would give
up so you know the british were really really
impressed by the bravery of the of the of the
nepalese people and what they said at that point
was okay we're not going to attack you anymore
because one of the general was killed as well
in this battle so we're not going to attack you
more guys but can we have you know you know your
guys you know fighting for us and the king of
nepal at that point um was of course you know
he had too much problem with you know fighting
against obviously this massive power so he said
of course we can you know we can partner but
since and then um the Gurkhas um have been serving
with the British for 205 years now uh we have
been you know with them throughout this whole
journey you know second world war and and all
the Iraq Afghanistan um you know Libya and all
that kind of stuff So, yeah, and just to give
you an idea what the selection of a guy has is
like in Nepal is, you know, in a year when I
went for the selection, there were like 32 ,000
young men, you know, trying for it and only 320
makes it. So it's a very, very tough selection
in Nepal. That's amazing. So one in a thousand
chance of basically getting a spot. Yeah. Pretty
much like that. So staying with the Gurkhas just
for a second, because as a Brit, you know, one
thing that we always hear is the courage, you
know, and there are, you know, numerous stories
of, you know, Gurkha heroism. So with that long
history, what do you attribute that courage to
as far as, you know, the culture and the beliefs
of the Nepalese people? I think for me, you know,
when people ask me, you know, who are you? I
always say, you know, I'm Nimestai. I was born
in Nepal, but I was raised in the Gurkhas and
United Kingdom Special Forces. And of course,
you know, I was made in the mountains. But coming
that, you know, I spent 16 years in the British
military. And what this Gurkha means to me is...
It's in my bone, I think. What does GERC stand
for across the world? As you said, James, it's
for bravery and also loyalty. We live with the
motto, it's better to die than to be a coward
and all that. It's very proud to be part of that
family, but that respect is earned. Absolutely.
I always ask about athletics and being a sportswoman
when you're younger. As you mentioned, the Chitwan
area was flat. So am I right in understanding
that you weren't really climbing when you were
young? Mate, I only started climbing when I was
29 years old, nearly 30. But yeah, so yeah, and
it was only in December 2012. And as you said,
Chris, you know, I had no idea to climbing. I
hadn't even trekked at all before. So yeah, it
was completely, you know. different kind of you
know dynamics to who I am now to how my you know
childhood was yeah beautiful so then tell me
about your journey in martial arts because I
know that was a pretty powerful element Yeah,
of course, you know, when I was a kid, you know,
I was put into this boring school and, you know,
Nepal being a third world country, you know,
there are like, of course, nasty things happen,
you know, and there's loads of, you know, like
school bullies and all that. And I was pretty
young and all that. But I remember in year seven,
I started learning, you know, kickboxing. And
pretty soon, you know, I started, you know, fighting
for the regional championship and all that. So
obviously all those, you know, bullies and all
that didn't happen after that. But yeah, all
good. You know, I was, I have always been supportive,
you know, when I was like not studying. In Nepal,
you get only one day as a weekend. You get only
Saturday off. So in Saturday, I used to, like,
explore the jungle of Chitwan. It's a massive
jungle. I used to go into the river, like, really
small river. Obviously, it's not a massive river,
you know, to those who are listening, because
I was a little kid. But I used to go and look
for the crabs. And, you know, I was that much
motivated that I would turn every rock in that
river. And, you know, source for, you know, the
scraps and come back home. And I used to cook
the scrap with mom. And, of course, you know,
we used to obviously eat and all that. So it's
a very humble upbringing, Barry, if I'm honest.
Yeah, well, one thing that really struck me,
and this struck me as well, the reason why you
transition out of the SBS. But you mentioned
early in the book about, you know, a lot of people
would. give their money to the temples, but you
actually would like to give it directly to the
people that you saw that needed it. So where
did that kindness and compassion come? Is that
a national thing or was that more from your parents
specifically? I think, I don't know, mate, to
be honest. Somehow early, even early, early in
my life, nobody taught me, nobody said anything,
but I wasn't a religious person since I was a
kid. you know because you know i kind of you
know even in very young as i kind of you know
started believing in what i i see um and and
you know for me like a lot of you know you know
nepalese people they go to the temple and they
you know donate money to the mountain god which
is the statue you know so not the mount the the
hindu gods you know which is the statues But
then I feel that's a bit pointless You know rather
than giving that money to the statues and all
that and somebody like taking that you don't
know where that money goes And I think it would
make an absolute sense if you donate that money
to the needy people like in if there's an orphan,
you know And if there's someone you know, you
know Disabled people or did if there's someone
who's really poor and I still remember I didn't
have much in my wallet, to be honest, because
we're still like that. But then I was I saw this
guy who was really, really he was poorer than
us. And I asked him, you know, does he has kids?
And he said, yes. And I just emptied my wallet
and I just say, yeah, go. And, you know, in Nepal,
you know, you don't really have enough money
to buy good food. So I said, you know, like here's
your money. Don't spend that on alcohol. Make
sure, you know, you know, that's. that's been
you know this out to to the family so i haven't
always been like that somehow um yeah beautiful
i mean obviously that that that comes out again
later in the story um so just to kind of recap
so your older brothers went in the gurkhas that
allowed you to have the education that you had
so tell me about your journey then into the gurkhas
yeah so I was in, obviously, in this, you know,
boarding school, in a hostel, in a really strict
regime. And, yeah, you are not allowed to get
out of the compound and all that. But what I
used to do is I used to wake up about, like,
2 o 'clock in the morning. And I used to go for
a run, you know, sometimes in a 20K, 30K. And
I used to be back, you know, just before, like,
you know, 6 a .m. in the morning when everybody's
awake. I used to pretend I'm still sleeping.
No one would know that I have been. up out you
know running with um putting some you know like
metal rods in my in my in my socks as well trying
to make you know a bit in after training because
you know we didn't have any weights or anything
so i just you know shoe metal rock and metal
rods bar in into my socks and i was doing that
kind of in training but yeah you know i felt
my first selection to the geikas um just because
you know the galawala who you know what galawala
is you know he is a very old retired um in old
school you know expensive guy and you know if
he doesn't like you he doesn't like you so i
fell for the first time and i only made it on
the second attempt um but for me since i was
kid i didn't want it to be anything else i didn't
want i was really good in school really good
as in like you know i used to be in top three
um in terms of whole you know uh mark marking
system but you know my dream was only to be a
guy so i was secretly training for that and eventually
i made it buddy so what do you think it was though
that that gave you that intrinsic determination
to get to be the only child in that school that
woke up at two in the morning sewed steel rods
to their socks and went for a 20 or 30k run I
think what I had in me is if I really want something
and if I really, you know, like dream of being
something, you know, I've always put my heart,
soul and, you know, dedication to that. And I
think that's who I am, you know. And then that's
not only from, you know, joining the Gokhas,
but that's also like, you know, there are a few
stories which I have mentioned in the book Beyond
Possible. So, yeah, I think. It's kind of, you
know, it's in the blood as well. But why I wanted
so much to be a Gayaka, it was purely because
my dad was in the Gayakas and my, you know, two
brothers were in the Gayakas. And whenever they
come home, I kind of like their, like, military
style, you know. Really smart and everybody was
well, you know, like, respecting them. And, you
know, Gayaka was quite a big thing in our village.
So, yeah, I just wanted to be part of that. Yeah,
well, that's understandable. Absolutely. You
had some some role models coming home. So what
was your journey like then? There you are in
Nepal. You know, you finally get a place in the
Gurkhas and now you fly off to the UK, a very
different country than Nepal. Yeah. You know,
like when you are in Nepal, when people talk
about, you know, United Kingdom, England, you
know, you think of in a Big Ben, in a London
Eye, Buckingham Palace. So I was expecting that.
But what happened was when we land. It was raining
sideways in London Heathrow. Then we were like
soaked into this bus. And after driving like
almost 10 hours, we got into this place called
Catrick, which is really up north of the England.
And we came out and look around. The weather
was absolutely miserable. Haven't seen anywhere
where the rain come like, you know, from like
sideways. And yeah, and I was like. There's only
a couple of houses you can see and there were
more sheep. So I was like, well, actually, this
is, you know, almost as, you know, as worse as
Nepal. You know, I was like, yeah. But, you know,
of course, that was it. And eventually, you know,
we were really, you know, went into a strict
regime of the training with the geckos, nine
months infantry training. Yeah. So it was a bit
of cultural shock, to be honest. But, you know,
you got to adapt. so it was hey yeah well that's
the thing i mean if you're in a mountainous region
of nepal like you know so far up the mountain
i can see how it would be warm but if you're
from a more tropical jungle -like part of nepal
then it was probably pretty miserable oh it was
like yeah All right. Well, the Gurkhas are known,
obviously, for the kukuri knife, the kind of
boomerang -shaped knife, almost. Is that something
that you ceremoniously get when you graduate
the Gurkhas? Or, you know, when do you get that?
Or do you still even get that anymore? Yes, buddy.
Whenever you pass the selection for the bigot
of Gurkhas, you are given that on your graduate.
All right. So then your first deployment was
Afghanistan. Is that right? Correct. In 2007.
Okay, so what was that like again? I mean, now
you're going to a completely different landscape.
You're going from, you know, a peaceful country
where you grew up and then where you trained
as well to now a war zone. So what was that like
for a young Gurkha? For me, you know, like everything
like for me was, you know, for the reputations
and, you know. I will just tell you one story
that I have briefly covered on the book. For
example, you know, we were working with the Marines,
Royal Marines, you know, 40 commandos in Herrick
7. And one of my job as an engineer commander
was to clear this compound so that, you know,
when we say clear this compound, we mean, you
know, the compound is free from IED bombs or
any detonating device. So I was doing that and
obviously my, one of my, you know, corporal was
like, and sergeant went, Nims, hurry up. And
I was like, look, I cannot hurry up, you know,
and they were like, Nims, can you hurry up? And
I was like, I just got so angry. I was like,
you know, there is a Valen, Valen is a metal
detector that detects, you know, IEDs or any
bombs, any metal on the ground. So I just like
threw that away and I was like, listen, if you
think that I'm scared of like doing this and
if you think I'm doing it so slowly and methodologically
because you think I'm scared, then there you
go. I can just walk around without this valent
and all that. But the reason why I'm doing this
job, you know, you know, 100 percent or methodologically
is because if I miss something here and those
like, you know. the Marine infantry unit comes
in and if something detonates or if ID goes off,
then, you know, we, you know, because of my carelessness
or our team carelessness, the whole reputation
of the guard is going to get jeopardized. So
listen up. And of course, after that, they all
listen. But yeah, it was really humbling experience.
I worked with the commandos and before that,
I wanted to join SAS after this tour. But after
working with the Royal Marines, I kind of preferred
their ethos and I decided to go to SBS. And for
those who are listening, just to give an example
between SAS and SBS in terms of militaries, in
SAS, we got most of the guys who pass into SAS
are from the army background. the sbs most of
the guys who pass to the selection are from uh
the marine background um so that's kind of you
know a bit of short i think i'm we're gonna probably
cover a bit more into that later on um but yeah
they both are ta1 uksf yeah Absolutely. Yeah.
And I definitely want to explore that because
obviously SBS is more of a marine background
and Nepal is not known for its oceans. So we'll
explore that in a moment. One thing I always
ask every member of the military, I ask Jay and
Stas and everyone else that's come on, with most
of us being civilians, most of us, even if you're
in the military, if you weren't deployed specifically
into a combat zone, there's these polarizing...
kind of views that we get fed through television
whatever it is either the very pro -war or the
very anti -war and to me as you know the more
members of military that come on the more i realize
that there are two things that you actually see
as you know as a soldier as a sailor whatever
you know whoever the person is um one is it seems
to be this common denominator that wherever the
war zone is amongst all that fighting are men
you know fathers and mothers and children that
are just trying to to get on with their life
but the other thing is usually they witness some
sort of you know atrocity that then reinforces
the fact that they are doing some good when they're
over there so did you have any kind of moments
when you first deployed where you saw some of
the horrific stuff that was going on by some
of the extremists over there Oh, yeah, massively,
James. And of course, you know, we went on this
war for, you know, reasons. And yes, a lot of
people could have a different opinion on that.
But I have been on the ground and I have seen
some horrible stuff that we try to obviously,
you know, stop, prevent from, you know, you know,
or stopping that act, which is against the humanity.
you know and then and specifically once you get
into the gurkhas and special forces we always
you know make sure that you know who we go into
our identity you know our target or everything
is is identified and there is a solid legitimate
in a bomb proof evidence and that's when we go
so there's no doubt about you know what i have
done and and all and yeah it's for the it's for
the better world which i believe in um so but
we are people and everybody has got different
opinions and all that but Unless you are in that
shoes and unless you have been there, I don't
think you can really comment. But hey, hey. Yeah,
no, exactly. I think that's an important point
to underline is when I hear these stories, yes,
you are representing the UK or the US or Australia
or wherever the person's from. But ultimately,
when you're on the ground, you're protecting
the Afghani people or the Iraqi people. And I
think that's a message a lot of people lose.
yeah massively mate and then you know like there
are situations where you know like um you know
like young kids been brought into to to to be
to be trained to be a terrorist and that's like
completely wrong you know where you know like
a certain you know uh terrorists are you know
those people you know training you know like
you know young kids you know putting bombs on
them and all that, I think, yeah, I think, but
I don't really want to go in details about that,
you know, but if that's okay, and I really wanted
to talk about, you know, you know, what, you
know, what my past is, you know, what, you know,
you know, what I have done last year, because
I'm... I cannot talk so much about the special
forces stuff because, you know, I haven't. Yeah,
no, no, absolutely, absolutely. It's just an
interesting perspective, I think, from the people
that were on the ground, you know, but that's
just one little thing I just want to touch on
and move on now. So your journey into SBS then.
So there you are again from Nepal, like I said,
not really exposed to a lot of aquatic activities.
So tell me about the journey in through there.
And no other Gurkha had obviously made it through
the ranks of SBS. So that was really a tough
challenge to start with because I would go there
as an alien. And everything what I have to do
over there, I have to work twice harder to prove
myself because you came from a completely different
background. And for me as well, it's not only
about me. It's about the reputations of those
hundreds and thousands of Gurkhas who has built
their name and repetitions of bravery and loyalty.
So, of course, I had to operate in extreme under
pressure throughout my whole career. But it's
something, you know, that taught me massively
also in terms of, you know, which we'll talk
about, you know, Bremen Project Possible in a
bit. Yeah, it wasn't easy, buddy. But I thoroughly
enjoyed it because, you know, the work cycle,
the job cycle is like a washing machine cycle.
You know, you've been basically thrown around
everywhere across the world. And one thing that
you cannot do is you cannot fuck up. So, yeah,
that's the level of, you know. Well, and then
something you touched on before with, you know,
with the sweeping for IED story and it's something
that seems to pan over and over again is. the
attention to detail and whether it's, you know,
my profession, the fire service or law enforcement
or whatever it is, that seems to be a very, very
important part of, you know, of, of earning the
title professional. So again, you know, how,
how much was that reinforced when you, when you
leveled up to the SBS? 100%. You know, you, you
got to apply all that and maybe beyond that.
So yeah, you know, that's why we are the best
in elite, you know, service in England or maybe
even in the world. Absolutely. So you have an
interesting story from within the SBS to actually
getting to Everest. So I'd love to hear about
how climbing started factoring into your service
in special operations. Yeah. So basically, I
was 29 years old when I decided to go to Nepal
to see the Everest. It's a trekking, by the way.
But then once I started trekking, you come through
this beautiful village called Namche Bazaar.
And as you come through, then you see a massive
mountain called Amadablam. It's so beautiful.
It dominates the whole of the Khumbu Valley.
Honestly, it's such eye -catching, such beautiful.
It's amazing. And after that, I was like, wow.
I just wanted to experience how it feels to be
standing on the summit of that mountain and see
the world. So I asked my, obviously, instructor
at that point, who was my guide, to say, hey,
can we climb? And he laughed. that mountain is
super technical people who climb Everest can't
even climb that so anyway long story short I
managed to convince him to climb another mountain
6200 meter peak the way we did was we had no
kit and equipment so we hired the kit in this
village and we thought how to wear crampons and
use crampons in the grass at this village so
we're putting crampons and walking obviously
Yeah, and after that, you know, eventually summited
lower to east. And at that point, when I was
on this mountain, what I realized was, when you
come from Gurkha background, when you become
like, you know, come from the special forces,
when you have done things and been there, all
that stuff, you think you are invincible. And
when I went into the mountain, at that point,
I just realized we are no one. It made me feel
how small, you know, I am. But also equally,
you know, I just love that, you know, the whole
atmospheric challenging, the environmental challenge,
like where you are struggling to breathe, you
know. Yeah, it was awesome. But also the view
once you get to the summit and all that. So that's
why it got me into an extreme high altitude mountain.
And from that point, you know, whenever I had
like a bit of leave, you know, coming from Special
Forces background, it's always hard. So, yeah,
I managed to do a bit of climbing here and there
after that. Now, with the Nepalese background,
did you notice that your physiology was different
than some other people that you climbed with
and that you were able to tolerate the altitude?
At that point, not really. Because at that point,
I just thought I'm UK Special Forces. I must
be faster and stronger than anybody else here.
That was kind of my attitude, which was massively
wrong. But I discovered I had kind of a natural
strength in terms of high altitude mountaineering
in 2014 when I climbed Daulagri, which is the
world's seventh highest mountain. And I summited
that mountain in just 14 days, Kathmandu to Kathmandu,
without any prior acclimatization, leading more
than 70 % of the route when I was obviously in
a trailblazing and all that. That's when I kind
of realized. But just to give you an idea, at
that point, I had no idea still. I was just planning
towards climbing Everest one day and other 8
,000 -meter peak eventually. But I was kind of,
you know, improving my skills towards, you know,
climbing without oxygen. But I was kind of, you
know, collecting my experience. And that stays.
Yeah. So I know you ended up teaching climbing
within Special Forces, too. So when did that
come in? So what happened was after Lobece East,
which, you know, which I just mentioned about,
I got back into SPS. I was in MPVS troop. That
means, you know, you would take lead on, you
know, parachuting and anything MPVS, watery stuff.
Then I changed from that troop to mountain troop.
And eventually, you know, I started working,
you know, my way and all that. And, yeah, I was,
when I left SPS, I was one of the lead BAS role,
as in BAS operator. I was head of that, you know,
kind of, you know, like. Teaching the special
forces guys about extreme cold weather warfare
and all that. Did you find that your climbing
then made you even better when it came to your
SBS activities? Well, it's completely different
stuff. What we do in SBS is not extreme high
altitude. What we do there is extreme cold weather
warfare. So it's a completely different skills,
but at some point that does, you know collapse
as in like there will be few overlaps and all
that but Yeah, but obviously I was doing this
in a high altitude mountaineering as my love
and passion so but I was trying to bring that
into into SBS and because with that incident
in Nanga Parbat in in 2011 when you know 11 climbers
were killed by the terrorists, you know, we were
you know Nobody could go and save their lives.
So I was kind of looking into this, you know,
if something like this happened, I was kind of
working towards developing the capabilities and
all that. But eventually, obviously, I left.
But yeah. Sorry, that was in the mountains of
Afghanistan. Is that right? In Pakistan. Oh,
Pakistan. Okay. Yeah. It happened in 2011. It
was a huge terrorist incident. So the other thing
that kind of springs to mind to me is, again,
you were born in the tropical area, then you
go to the UK, obviously you're deploying to the
Middle East. Where do you relate your ability
to tolerate the cold? Because up to that point,
you hadn't really been exposed to a lot of very,
very cold areas. Well, when I went to the mountain
trip, obviously I went to Norway and did loads
of an extreme cold weather warfare training within
the SBS. um but yeah i think if you love doing
something and the things would come naturally
i guess and then so the speed element too so
i know and we're going to talk about obviously
the um project uh project possible and the the
ridiculous speed that you did the uh the peaks
when did you start noticing that you were just
faster in general than a lot of climbers In 2017,
I was one of the instructors for the Gurkhas
to the Everest. And the mission was to put a
first -serving Gurkha on the summit of Everest.
Technically, I had done that in 2016, but the
wider military didn't know because I was in the
Special Forces. Nobody knew about this anyway.
So, yeah, 2017, here we are. And I was one of
the instructors going over there. And what happened
that season was... You know, in Everest, there
is an official team normally who set the fixed
lines to the summit. And a lot of people, you
know, use that trailblaze, use that logistic,
that, you know, that fixed lines to summit to
the Everest, to the top. So that season, that
didn't happen. And what it meant for me as an
instructor and as a Gurkha and as a UK Special
Forces operator was, one, as a Gurkha, whenever...
you know like in another chance this will be
our like if we fail on that one it will be another
third attempt that we will get another chance
to go and climb everest you know so that was
no and also you know like coming from the gurkha
background everybody think you know everest is
in your back garden you know but it's not but
there was a huge reputation as well the second
one was you know again you know this was the
second time that we used you know british taxpayers
money to go and do this And I don't think there
will be ever a third attempt. So I stepped up
and I formed my own team to go and set these
fixed lines. A combination of, you know, mostly
Serpas and a couple of Inagaika instructors.
Yeah, went and obviously set the fixed lines,
not opening the route for only our team, but
the rest of the season's mountaineer. And immediately
after that, obviously, I came with the team to
Kathmandu. Then I went back again to climb Everest.
Lhotse and Makalu, which I did in five days.
And that's including stopping for two nights,
partying in between. Otherwise, I could have
done that in three days. And at that point, I
realized I had so much to give into this mountaineering
world. So that's where the bigger vision started
coming into me. That's when I realized I was
something different. I had something different.
All right. So the 2017 summit was basically two
years later for the G200. Is that right? Yeah,
2017 Summit was only two years later after I
did my Project Possible. Right, yeah. Okay. Because
the 2015, was that when they had the earthquake
on Everest? So the first time we attempted was
2015. The big earthquake came. Nobody, you know,
obviously made it to the top as the expeditions
were all cancelled. 2017 was the second time
that, you know, we were back again. Right. Going
back to just the SBS, the only one thing I kind
of missed that I think is very important was,
you know, you detailed this in the book, that
you actually were shot in the face. So, you know,
how were you able to kind of overcome that injury
and push forward? I think we should leave that
for the readers to find in the book beyond possible.
Shall we? Beautiful. Yes, let's do that. I haven't
got this chronologically down. So when was the
first time you made a rescue on the mountain?
It was in 2016 when I went to this, you know,
super secret trip to, you know, Everest. And
this was the trip that I made a really last minute
decision between the tour, operational tour between,
you know, Theta to Theta. So no one knew, not
even my family, other than, you know, my wife.
I went to Nepal, decided to climb Everest solo.
And on the way down, I rescued this female climber
who was, you know, left behind to die by, you
know, of course, you know, her team and guides.
So I brought her down. And at that point, I was
climbing. I take oxygen from camphor, but I was
developing my skills towards to climb without
it. But what happened from that point was I managed
to rescue her from balcony, which is 1 ,450 meters.
I did 500 meter worth of rescue in just 90 minutes.
That's super quick. Just to give you an example,
it took two days for a team of five rescue members
to get her down to Camp 2. So from that point,
obviously, I decided to climb, you know. big
mountains with oxygen after camp or a high camp
but yeah it was only in 2016 and I rescued her
got back into you know Kathmandu then to England
and within like literally a week of submitting
Everest secretly I was in Afghanistan kicking
door nobody knew about it so yeah Well, how does
that look like? You know, what does that look
like when it's normally so slow and, you know,
that her team had basically left her? You know,
what were you doing differently that allowed
you to make that rescue so rapidly? I'm Nimstai
and I... What I have is like, being brutally
honest, you know, I have this, you know, massive
physical stamina. My mindset is, you know, different,
you know. I operate differently at the death
zone. That's like my playground. And, you know,
coming back, you know, from, you know, GERKAS
and Special Forces background, I have never left
anyone behind in the operations or in the battle.
I'm not going to leave someone, you know, over
there when, you know, it's in my, you know, in
my zone. So I had to rescue. So, yeah. Beautiful.
All right. Well, then I know that. You decided
to make a transition out of SBS for a very altruistic
reason. So tell me about your journey to making
the decision to transition out of the military.
Okay. So 2018, I was appointed as head of an
extreme cold weather warfare within SBS. And
one of my job is to... obviously go out do loads
of you know find out about the climbing mountaineering
find you know what these professionals are doing
find out new kit and equipment all that and pass
that knowledge to our fellow operators in process
of that what i approached to sbs at that point
was can i go and climb top five highest mountain
in just 80 days Because, you know, I had loads
of, you know, leave, ode and all that. But then
the decision was no, purely because of the risk
factors. You know, in K2, one in four dies. And,
you know, of course, I wasn't just climbing one
mountain, but I was doing a pretty much mountain
marathon. So it makes sense from, you know, of
course, the difference. So they said no. And
I was like, OK. But at that point, when I say.
When I put my, you know, cheat in, I got invitation
from, you know, SAS to, like, you know, join
their regiment. And certainly they had, you know,
better job opportunity for me and all that. But,
yeah, you know, for me, it wasn't, you know,
you know, that, you know, my loyalty lies, you
know, in the blood. Coming from the Gurkha background,
you know, whatever I do, you know, it will have
an impact on my future generations. I took my
loyalty and over, you know, my job security,
pensions and everything. And yeah. And after
that, I resigned. And I was like, since I'm resigning
anyway, I got like time to myself. I don't have
to get permission to do things and all that.
I'm my own boss. So why only climb five mountains?
I'm going to climb all the 14. So I Googled in
the internet. I found out the fastest time was,
you know, nearly eight years. Then I planned
all that out and I thought I could do under seven
months. So that's the journey. When you told
that story, you gave up your pension and I can
totally relate because I retired out the fire
service and basically took the money that I had
and put it back into doing this for exactly the
same reason. Don't get me wrong, I wasn't climbing
14 mountains, but it was I realized I could do
more good. leaving the environment that i was
in and being a voice for the people rather than
staying in that in that profession yeah true
buddy and you know like for me i never joined
you know in sbs to be a general or to make millions
you know it was pure for love for the job and
and you know pure like passion for the job uh
you know because you know I wanted to be part
of that group so much. And at that point, I even
said, you know, if I just pass this selection,
if I'm good enough, I'm happy to work for free.
So that much, you know, like I wanted to be part
of that group. So, yeah, and then for me, I felt
like I have done enough for the crown in a country.
I have served 16 years. All my time doing the
military were, you know, in that period where
the war was kicking off. all across the globe
so i had a really really hardcore you know military
you know duty as well so but after that it was
you know for different reason it was for something
else that you know i can i can reach out to to
the wider community um and all that so yeah beautiful
well The project that you started planning was
Project Possible. So tell me about the recipients.
Who are you trying to raise money and or awareness
for with that project? So everything what I do
in life, I need to find a purpose or a goal or
something that really means most to me. So when
I come with this idea, of course I need a purpose.
Why I'm doing this? And it was very simple for
me. I wanted to show the world that what is humanly
possible, you know, because at that point, no
one could even imagine. And I couldn't even imagine
that before that until 2018. It was it was beyond
my imagination as well. So I somehow it came
into my imagination that I could do it. So I
wanted to obviously show the world that, you
know. If you can imagine something and if you
really put your heart, mind and soul into that,
you can do it. Secondly, I wanted to raise the
name of the Nepalese climbers who have been frontier
of all the Himalayan peaks, you know, but they
never got the right credit. And thirdly, I wanted
to raise the awareness about climate change and
global warming, which is very close to my heart.
And I really believe in those three purposes.
And that's what gives me strength, fire and everything,
buddy. Yeah, well, I know that your mentor, your
climbing mentor that you actually lost in 2015
was extremely passionate about climate change.
So while you have a captive audience here, tell
me what, you know, from the Nepalese perch, what
you guys are seeing regarding to climate change.
There has been a massive change. Like, for example,
I was in Amadablam, which is the most beautiful,
iconic peak of Himalayas. My first climb when
I went there at Cam 1, we could just, you know,
grab the snow, melt it, drink water, cook food
and all that. When I went there again in 2018,
there was no snow. So we had to carry like gallons
of water because. the water is heavy right you
know one liter is one kg so when we had to carry
like gallons of water you know into this extreme
like route altitude I was like oh my god that
was so painful but equally so sad and that's
when I had the true realization of wow this is
this is real again you know like I was in Daulagri
my first 8 ,000 meter peak in 2014 I went back
there in 2019 for you know for this project and
the whole of the glacier was melting you know
i didn't believe that in just in a matter of
few years you could see such a huge change um
and you know if you look if you now forget those
what i have seen and just like if you look into
the scientific you know figures and all that
if you look you know the kumbu valley if we lose
the glacier of you know like kumbu icefall and
all that it's gonna have an effect on millions
of life And this is something that's really worrying.
So I really wanted to obviously raise the awareness
about it through my channels. So, yeah, and that's
what I've been doing. Well, that's beautiful.
That's something that I've talked about a few
times on here. I lived in Los Angeles for a little
while, and I always found it insanity that you
would have all these kind of anti -climate change.
views. And my thing was, well, we're in a city
where you can't even see 200 meters ahead of
you. So rather than even worry about the climate
change element, why don't we just work on what
we can see, which is the product of emissions.
You see the smokestacks all over the country
that are spewing out toxic gases. Let's work
on what we can see, and I guarantee you we'll
probably have a knock -on effect on climate change
as well. Yeah, that's so true, buddy. And I just
was that, you know, a documentary by Sir David
Attenborough. And the message he sends was so
powerful. Whatever we do all as a human, if we
put nature to our heart and make decisions around
that, we can make changes. And then it's only
like when there is a bigger goal. And when there's
a bigger project, it's not the big things that
make difference. It's the smaller things. And
if everyone is doing those little smaller things,
that's what makes the huge change. So, yeah.
Absolutely. All right. Well, then you mentioned
14 peaks, but you didn't mention what the record
was up to that point and then the time period
that you were hoping to scale all 14. So what
was the current record and then what was your
hope? The record was, you know, I think it's
seven years, 11 months and 14 days. And that
record was hauled by, you know, Jersey Couscous.
And a Korean climber, Kim Jang -ho, tried to
break his record. And he broke that record by
only, you know, less than 10 days or something
like that. Yeah. So when I plan into like seven
months, it was crazy because, you know, if you
look into this idea for those who doesn't know
these big mountains and all, you know, people
take two months to climb one big mountains, one
8 ,000 meter peak and all that. So no one could
really imagine. But being able to change that
perspective into this in a new era of extreme
high altitude mountaineering. I think it's quite
humbling, buddy. And that's kind of what I wanted
to do. Well, you had self -belief and obviously
you'd seen what you were capable of at that point.
But I know that proposing it to sponsors was
a challenge for you. So what was the fundraising
element like for you? The fundraising was one
of the toughest things I have ever done after
writing this book. So, yeah, at that point, I
still had one year planning to do before I get
into this project. The whole project had two
planning. One was operational, which was my bag,
my perk, my expertise. And there was another
one which was fundraising. The fundraising part
was led by one of my friends. And just like three
months prior to the project, you know. I was
told that there is zero pound on the project
fund. So after that, I decided to take the lead
by myself. And yeah, nobody would believe it.
They were like, OK, Nims, if you think like,
you know, you are that badass climber, mountaineer,
why haven't we heard about you before? I was
like, I just told you I was in special forces.
You know, I didn't even have a Facebook. I didn't
have any Instagram. So how are you going to hear
about me? then some would say, oh, the previous
two records are nearly eight years and you were
just trying to say you're going to do that in
seven months. So people were making the joke
out of it and all that. Yeah, mate. And just
to give you an idea, before I set off from London
Heathrow to Kathmandu, Nepal for this project,
I only had 5 % of the total fund. It was that
hard. And I still remember when people were so
negative and all that. I was driving in this
motorway in M3 and given the fact I have operated
in a very, very hostile, you know, stressful,
multilayer stressful environment and that doesn't
like overwhelm me. But on this one fundraising,
I was driving on this motorway and I just had
tears coming from my eyes. I had to pull up and
obviously had to have a word for myself. get
a grip, you know, and then I drove off. And the
reason why it gives me strength was the purpose,
why I was doing this mission. But, yeah, it was
tough, buddy. And the funding started coming
later on from the, you know, from the project
through sponsorship. A lot of people, you know,
supported through, you know, GoFundMe page. As
well, once I started, you know, climbing in the
way that I said I would climb, and once I started
the rescues, you know, all that. Beautiful. Well,
just as a tangent with that, so many members
of the military I've had on, myself, my profession,
all the tactical professions, there's a toll.
There's a mental toll to what we see as a mental
toll to what some of us have to do. And then
a lot of times that manifests when you transition
out of the profession because that group that
you were in, that tight -knit... tribe that you
belong to now you're on the outside well with
your journey not only on the outside but now
you have the the added frustration of having
served your country and yet not now you know
having so many problems trying to raise money
for this this climb that you know is going to
do so much good so did did you have either then
or later on in your uh you know the last few
years have any elements where you know you you
saw the ripple effect mentally of you know the
The service that you've given? Nobody, because
for me, you know, I think it was different. And
of course, you know, I see a lot of friends,
you know, having a ripple effect. But at the
moment, no, because, you know, everything what
I did was by the book. You know, it was something
that I really loved doing it. And there was a
purpose and all that. So, yeah, I'm okay, thankfully.
Well, good. And I think that I've expected that
answer. And the reason being is because, as you
said, you had a purpose. And that seems to be
the key for people transitioning out healthily
is that they go from one purpose to the next.
And obviously, the climb seemed to be that good
transition. 100%. Beautiful. All right. Well,
then, so you were still working on the fundraising.
So lead me through to Braymont because I want
to give them some airtime too because they seem
to be well -engrossed in your climb, obviously,
with Through Dark. So let's talk about how they
came in and got behind your project. So when
I finished the first project and all that, a
lot of people started believing that I could
really do it. You know, because, you know, at
first people didn't believe in all that. But
on the second phase, when I was like struggling
for the for the fund, Bremen advanced me, you
know, roughly in a 200K. And that allowed me
to do the second phase in a peaceful manner.
Yeah. And then through that, guys, you know,
of course, they have been, you know, like, you
know, friends. They have been supporting me with
the clothing and all that. And I'm quite proud
to represent them and all that. uh but yeah there
were like great sponsors like in ann middleton
you know who who supported this project you know
give me you know sponsorship um and yeah he didn't
even ask for anything not even like one social
media post and all that some so there were some
really great supporters out there like select
so osprey europe i had like tons of you know
like um the sponsors because um Nobody could
fund the whole project. And I must not forget,
half of the project fund came from the crowdfunding.
Actually, people giving £5, £10, and a lot of
people were giving that as well. So that's why
I keep saying it was a people's project. Beautiful.
Well, then back to the Climbs then. So kind of
walk me through that and then where you not only
did it in a certain time, but also that was including...
other rescues that you made? Yeah, you know,
for me, of course, that was the mission. The
mission was there. But, you know, before mission,
you know, of course, there is a humanity and
there is a culture and there is a true spirit
of who really I am. And for me, I couldn't really
walk away with not risking people or walking
past the needy people. So, I did, you know, first
rescue was on Annapurna, you know, where I was
about to go to climb Dhaulagri, my second mountain
to tick off. But then I abandoned that, you know,
Dhaulagri to go and, you know, rescue Dr Chin.
The side effect was massive because, you know,
my team in Dhaulagri, because they have been
waiting, you know, for a while, they said I was
never going to come. So, they almost like, you
know, closed the camp and left. But, yeah, and
the story goes on. Like in, for example, Kanchenjunga,
I hadn't slept for like six days. Normally people,
you know, go to the summit from, you know, sleeping
at camp one, camp two, camp three and all that.
But I didn't have that luxury. So I was just
racing from base camp to the summit of this,
you know, massive mountain, world third highest
mountain, Kanchenjunga. And in that as well,
I had to give, you know, me and my team, Mikma,
David, myself and Gesman. We rescued four climbers
and we had to give oxygen at 8 ,450 meters. And
a lot of people say, oh, yeah, you climb with
oxygen and all that. But this is the main reason
why I do it. You know, I get my oxygen to save
the life of these people. And if you look into
the science, physics beyond that, coming off
oxygen at 8 ,450 meters and doing a rescue, which
is like equally dragging a car at the sea level,
is... is hardcore than any mountains you climb
without oxygen and all that. So, yeah, but the
whole thing about this rescue is about, you know,
not letting your core value and principle go
in a very tough, challenging conditions, but
also you've got to know your abilities as well.
You know, you don't want to be, you know, one
of those stupid in a person who doesn't know
your ability to try to rescue somebody else and
then you become another casualty. then you you
kind of you know like make that problem even
more so it's all about a dynamic calculated risk
assessment given the whole circumstances and
environment Yeah, and obviously you detail the
climbs and the rescues in the book. And again,
I can't mention that enough. But it also highlights,
again, that altruistic element that you have
where you're not carrying oxygen so that you
can be the best, you can be the fastest, but
you're lugging that tank up on the off chance
that you have to make a rescue. So you either
have the strength or you're able to give oxygen
to the victim. So I think that speaks volumes.
Yeah, mate, because at the end of the day, you
got to learn from your experience. Whenever we
go in the target, whenever we go in the mission,
there's always debrief. We don't only talk about
what went well and high five. We also talk about
what went wrong as well and what are the lessons
learned. And for me, the lesson learned from
my first Everest expedition in 2016 was climbing
8 ,000 -meter peak is not about ego. You know,
if you can climb all this mountain with the value
and principle, then, you know, that's that's
the one for me anyway. So I learned something
from that expedition and I carried that with
me to this point and all that. It's all about
learning from the experience and making what
it fits with you as a human. as an individual
as well. And I'm not there to please, you know,
the world and all that. Nobody can do that, you
know, because we all are human. We all are different.
But, you know, as long as you have purpose, you
learn from your mistakes, you learn from your
experience, you always will be successful in
what you do because you are always learning and
adapting. Beautiful. Just to point out, one of
my favorite parts of the book was... the the
very end the lessons learned at the back and
it ties in all the stories but you know you've
got these key points that really make you think
about you know leadership and ownership and all
these other areas yeah 100 you know like the
whole thing with the book as i said is like even
covering the the leadership in my team members
i normally when people go to the big mountains
and all they will have somebody else who has
summited that mountain Because, you know, he
can show you the route. There's like, you know,
there's danger, you know, because once you summit
it, you kind of know the route. But I didn't
take that approach. I put my guys, because they
were rotating, you know, between summit to the
summit. So I put these guys into the mountain
that they haven't climbed before. So they also
have the objective as well. So when you put,
you know, the interest of your team members,
you know, into your hat as well, and that gives
such a powerful gesture. The whole leadership
style is completely different. I think that's
also one of the reasons why the whole project
was successful. Speaking of the Nepalese people,
here we are now recording this in 2020. What
has been the impact of COVID on the climbing
environment and therefore the economic side for
the Nepalese? Well, you know, good question.
You know, a lot of people in Nepal, the climbing
community, they massively rely, you know, rely
on Everest expedition. That's the biggest expedition.
That's where they make money. You know, all the
guides and of course, you know, the whole family
depend on that, you know, expeditions and all
that. But with COVID, all the Himalayan expeditions
were cancelled this year. So it was a really
tough time, and I did what I could do to help
them. I kind of had that GoFundMe page, and we
were just buying food for the people. A lot of
people have donated on that one. Thank you so
much to those who have donated and all that.
Yeah, it's a really tough time. It's a tough
time for everybody else. I know we all have our
own problems and all that, but just in relation
to the climbing community, uh thank you so much
to everyone who had supported um yeah brilliant
all right well then um lead me through then what
made you decide to write a book and then what
that process was like i just finished a book
myself so i can relate but what was your experience
why i wanted to write the book This was one of
the strengths that I had when I was almost dying
on the 8 ,000 -meter peak, when I was running
out of my energy and all. I wanted to tell the
story by myself. I wanted to do the justice to
the story. I didn't want somebody else writing
my story on the guess, on like assumption or
in the imagination. Because what I have written
in this... book is a statement no one can argue
with this everything what I have written is backed
up by either video evidence or anything and then
and everything hasn't been even like you know
when people do something people make it bigger
and I honestly believe me I've tried to play
down as much as I can and everything is like
like there but to be able to tell this story
from my own perspective you know it was really
really humbling experience but to be honest buddy
the writing book is hardcore it is so hard i
have read this book now nine times um and um
i must say i'm very excited now because i have
put so much work and as you know i give 100 in
everything that i do in my life and i and that's
what i have done with the book and this book
is not about you know mountain it's about about
relating yourself, about climbing your own mountains
and how you could achieve your own new possible
in relation to how I cope with the problem, how
I mitigate with them, what my thought process
are and all that. So I hope it will be in a people's
book as well. No, like I said, I thought it was
fantastic. And there's many times now in conversations
on here. I've spoken to people who have redefined
something in life. And then once they do, then
behind them is a bunch of people that then start
to... to kind of match the same thing but it's
that first pioneer that first person that shows
other people that something is possible and i
think that's what i got from this is you know
again like you said the definitely the kindness
compassion element which i think is is beautiful
but also that that belief that self -belief like
i don't care what anyone says i fucking know
that i can do this so i'm just gonna show you
yeah Thank you, Barry. And that's what exactly
it is. And that's what exactly Be Impossible
is about. Find your own mission. If you believe
in that, give your heart, mind, and soul into
it. And just go for it. And you'll be successful.
You will make the impossible possible. Now, what
was it like for you once you'd written it? Were
you able to kind of breathe a sigh of relief
now you were able to kind of offload that story?
I have, but obviously, you know, I'm not that
kind of a person who can just go on a busy holiday
and then relax. You know, I can't do that. So
I have been on a mission and I have been learning
how to speed fly. I have been like, you know,
full on, buddy. I'm planning on, you know, like
the next future project and all that. So it's
full on mission. because you know i'm quite new
to this mountaineering world to be honest and
i've just i just became a professional climber
only a year ago before that you know my profession
was in a tier one uk in a special forces so i
got a lot to do i think yeah absolutely well
so are there any big plans is there is there
a next um adventure that you're hoping the to
share I cannot really say that now, but it is
something massive, equally big. And yeah, stay
tuned. I don't doubt it for a moment. All right.
Well, again, like I said, the book is incredible.
And I think what's so good is you are the quiet
professionals. And again, I'm not trying to draw
anything out from any of your service that shouldn't
be out there. Men and women who have these powerful
stories are able to put it, you know, in writing,
whatever they're allowed to tell about. It really,
really resonates with people because there's
so much, you know, shallow fiction out there.
And yet these real life stories that many of
whom have had on the show are so much more powerful
than most storytellers can make up anyway. So
I can't advocate, you know, highly enough for
your book. Thank you, buddy. You know, that's
really kind of you. And thank you for your honest
feedback as well. No problem. Well, I want to
transition some closing questions so I can let
you go. We'll talk about where people can find
the book in just a moment. But is there a book
that someone else has written that you love to
talk about or recommend? It can be related to
what we've discussed today or something completely
different. Nothing really, buddy, because I'm
going to be brutally honest. I haven't read any
book. Sorry. No, no problem at all. What about
it? My writing book was really crazy and all
that, you know, because, yeah, the whole life
in, you know, Scriptural Forces, you're busy
running around and all that. And straight after
that, I was into this project and obviously,
yeah, full on. But I can definitely tell you,
you know, who have been my inspiration, you know,
from what I have been seeing and all that is.
Definitely Muhammad Ali and Usain Bolt. These
two guys have been a massive inspiration for
me. Beautiful. Yeah, I think that's the problem
with your profession, even my profession, is
there's so many facts and skills to master that
I found in most of my fire service career, I
was reading textbooks and reading medical books
and all those things. So there wasn't a lot of
time for other books, really. Yeah. Brilliant.
All right. So then what about a film? Any films
or documentaries that you've loved? I cannot
talk about. Oh, you mean like, you know, that
I love? Yeah, that you love. Nothing secret.
I watched, you know, like The Last Dance by obviously
Michael Jordan. It was awesome. Yeah. And then
you mentioned David Attenborough's documentary
as well. Yeah, I did watch that as well in a
couple of days ago. That's like amazing. Yeah.
Beautiful. My sister votes for the BBC and she
edits. So I'm hoping this is the absolute pipe
dream. I'd love to get him on one day. That would
be incredible. Wow. We should see. That would
be awesome. All right. So the next question,
is there a person that you recommend to come
on this podcast as a guest to speak to the first
responders, military and associated professions
of the world? As in like, you know, who I recommend
to come on the next podcast? Is that your question?
Yeah, just as an interview. Then it can be, again,
anyone. It doesn't have to be specifically what
we've discussed today. Anyone on planet Earth
that you think would be a good person for us
to listen to. Did you speak with Jay? Jay Morton?
Yes. So Staz and Jay were both on a little while
ago. You took their clothing through dark up
the mountain, didn't you? okay yeah and basically
you know like if you can you know bring ann middleton
you know he is he has such a positive mindset
and all that so yeah get him brilliant i shall
thank you so much all right so in the last question
before we make sure everyone knows where to find
the book and where to find you um what do you
do to decompress i go and do in extreme sports
where i'm literally living my life in in the
moment you know If I mess up, if I fuck up, I
die. And that's what I do to decompress. Beautiful.
Which sport specifically? Anything, mate. There's
so many things, you know, climbing peak mountains
or climbing an extreme in a great mountains,
isn't like grading or even speed flying. Yeah,
all that kind of stuff. Beautiful. Love it. Yeah,
it's hard not to be in the moment when you almost
die. All right. So then the very last question
then. So where can people find the book first?
So basically, if you are following on my Instagram
at Nimstai, there's a link. You can just find
it from there or, you know, you can find that
from, you know, Waterstones, Imagine. Yeah. But
the easiest thing for now, you know, if you're
listening is, you know, just, you know, type
Nimstai on Instagram or Facebook. There's a link
on the bio. And yeah, I hope you will enjoy reading
it. Absolutely. Well, Nims, I want to say thank
you so much. It's been a great conversation.
I've really enjoyed it. And I really appreciate
you taking the time to come on the podcast today.
Mate, thank you so much to you as well for having
me.