Kristin Harila completes Everest Triple Crown in single climbing season
The Norwegian climber summited Nuptse, Lhotse and Everest within weeks, finishing the final peak without supplementary oxygen alongside Ming Temba Sherpa.
PC: Kristin's Facebook
Norwegian mountaineer Kristin Harila on Wednesday completed one of Himalayan climbing’s rarer accomplishments, reaching the summit of Mount Everest to secure the so-called Khumbu Triple Crown: the ascent, within a single season, of Nuptse, Lhotse and Everest.
“Today, together with Ming Temba Sherpa and Pasang Dukpa, Kristin summited Mount Everest without supplementary oxygen,” she wrote on Facebook, adding that the climb completed the Triple Crown. The expedition was organised by Seven Summit Treks, the Kathmandu-based operator that has become increasingly associated with high-profile Himalayan records.
The feat capped a demanding sequence of ascents. Harila climbed Nuptse (7,861 metres) without supplementary oxygen on May 17, followed by Lhotse (8,516 metres) on May 21. Everest, climbed this week without bottled oxygen, completed the trilogy. Throughout the expedition she was accompanied by Ming Temba Sherpa, who earlier this season helped fix the summit route on Everest.
Harila had initially aimed to complete all three climbs without supplementary oxygen. That ambition was partly diluted when she used bottled oxygen on Lhotse, though both Nuptse and Everest were climbed unsupported.
The Triple Crown—linking three of the Khumbu’s most formidable peaks in a single spring season—is regarded as one of the more exacting objectives in Himalayan mountaineering. The logistical operation was overseen by Chhang Dawa Sherpa, himself a noted climber and the architect of several record-setting expeditions this season, including Polish mountaineer Bartek Ziemski’s historic ski descent from Everest and Lhotse.
Both Kristin and Ming Temba have climbed all 14 of the world’s eight-thousanders and have now completed the Triple Crown.
In 2023, Harila set a speed record by climbing all 14 peaks in just 92 days.
