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Climbing Media Reviewed
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14 Peaks: Nothing is Impossible
World Record ascent of all 14 8000ers in 6 months by Nepalese mountaineers

Format DVD Category Non-Fiction
Title 14 Peaks: Nothing is Impossible  Mins 101 
Starring Nirmal Nimsdai Purja, Mingma David Purja, Gelje Sherpa, Lakpa Dendi Sherpa, Gesman Tamang  RRP  
Director Torquil Jones  Reviews
Edition   Ave Rating ***** (4.50 of 5)

Reviews  

User Comments
E
3/16/2022
****
Solid film, very entertaining.
Soundtrack is epic and fun with inclusion of Nepali artists.
The premise of the story is incredible, this tight group of Nepalese climbers
smashing all previously held world records for summitting 8000ers.
Would have been nice for more footage of some of the climbs e.g. Broad Peak
and G1 and G2 in Pakistan but understandably they did not have the money or
resources to capture everything.
Jimmy Chin and Chai Vasarhelyi, the King and Queen of mountaineering docos,
were involved in the production of this.
All round feel good film and lovely to see the Nepalese crush it and get the
international recognition for the Sherpa community that they so thoroughly
deserve. 
Anonymous
4/26/2023
*****
WARNING: Gesman Tamang and his partner Lauren Albert sell guiding packages
with "Gesman as your personal guide", then proceed to sell the same package to
multiple others at the same price.

Knowing this type of dishonest business practice is not uncommon in Nepal, I
asked before booking "What is the maximum size of group that may be booked?"
to which the answer was "Max number of clients is 5". When we arrived in Lukla,
there were 11 clients.

Near the summit of Lobuche, Gesman and Lauren became involved in an
argument, during which Gesman threw a camera at Lauren and kicked her with
his crampon, resulting in a puncture injury to her knee.

We were also informed "There will be one emergency oxygen bottle for the
group", however no guides were carrying oxygen bottles at any point during the
trekking or climbing.

During an acclimitisation hike up Nagarjun Hill (Dingboche), 2 clients were
abandoned by their guides. One was on her way up when the rear-guard guide
(Pasang Rinzee Sherpa) passed her without any communication, leaving her with
no choice but to descend alone. During descent, another client was passed by
the same guide, and left to find her way home alone, during which time she
became lost and eventually arrived back at the tea house hours later in the late
afternoon.

One client developed HACE while staying in Lobuche, and I developed HAPE.
Our requests for assistance with arranging a helicopter evacuation were
completely ignored, and following my descent from Lobuche East, I spent the
night sitting up in bed, coughing blood, messaging back and forth with multiple
parties to organise a helicopter evacuation for the next morning.

Gesman and his team are dishonest, disorganised, and irresponsible, and care
only about extracting as much money as possible from their clients.

Following the "crampon kicking" incident discussed above, Lauren acknowledged
how disappointed the clients must be, and proactively offered to personally refund
a significant portion of my booking fee (I hadn't asked for this, but accepted the
offer). However, when I brought this up several days later on WhatsApp with
Gesman and Lauren, we were abused, asked "If we were disappointed, why
didn't we ask for a refund sooner?", accused of faking our health conditions (as if
that was even relevant - and even after we showed our medical certificates
obtained from the hospital).

Avoid these two criminals at all costs. 

 

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