A former Gurkha (special forces soldier), Nirmal Purja, takes a selfie at the start of his attempt to scale the world’s 14 highest peaks in seven months to break a 31-year-old record. Nirmal Purja, known as Nims, aims to smash the current record – which stands at seven years, 11 months and 14 days – set by Polish climber Jerzy Kukuczka. On the way, he also plans to defeat at least seven speed world records on mountains over 8,000m high. (Photo by Nirmal Purja/PA Wire Press Association)

Indigenous woven backpacks called guayare are seen in front of a house in Paraitepui village, before a walking excursion to Mount Roraima, near Venezuela's border with Brazil January 13, 2015. A mysterious table-topped mountain on the Venezuela-Brazil border that perplexed 19th century explorers and inspired “The Lost World” novel is attracting ever more modern-day adventurers. (Photo by Carlos Garcia Rawlins/Reuters)

A view of St Thomas Becket church during the morning frost, in Fairfield, Kent, England, Thursday, January 6, 2022, following freezing overnight temperatures. (Photo by Gareth Fuller/PA Wire via AP Photo)

In this photo taken on Thursday, August 22, 2019, and distributed by Roscosmos Space Agency Press Service, the Russian Progress 73 cargo ship blasts off from the launch pad at Russia's space facility in Baikonur, Kazakhstan. The new Russian rocket, that is expected to replace the current model sending manned missions into space, blasted off from Kazakhstan on Thursday, carrying a Soyuz capsule with a humanoid robot. (Photo by Roscosmos Space Agency Press Service via AP Photo)

A squirrel and lizard both refuse to give way in an unlikely standoff on a wall in Mohali, India in the first decade of February 2024. (Photo by Anuj Jain/Solent news)

Confiscated rare and protected wildlife products such as these stuffed Sumatran tiger skins are burned and destroyed during a ceremony by government forestry and wildlife officials in Banda Aceh, Aceh province, Indonesia May 23, 2016 in this photo taken by Antara Foto. (Photo by Irwansyah Putra/Reuters/Antara Foto)

Oscars presenter, English model and actress Cara Delevingne walks the champagne-colored red carpet during the Oscars arrivals at the 95th Academy Awards in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, U.S., March 12, 2023. (Photo by Aude Guerrucci/Reuters)

David Guttenfelder was born in Iowa and graduated from the University of Iowa with a Bachelor of Arts in cultural anthropology. He has worked for the AP since 1994 based in Kenya, the Ivory Coast, India and Japan. He is currently AP’s chief Asia photographer and his feature work has been used prominently in editorial publications throughout the world including Time and National Geographic. Photo: U.S. soldiers from the 2nd Battalion, 12th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, fire mortars at known enemy firing positions from a base in the Pech River Valley in Afghanistan's Kunar province, Saturday, October 24, 2009. (Photo by David Guttenfelder/AP Photo)