A Norwegian climber, who is on a mission to summit 14 peaks above 8,000m within 6 months, scaled Mount Makalu (8,485m) on Friday morning, setting a new world record for fastest ascent of six 8,000ers, organizers said.

“Kristin Harila along with Pasdawa Sherpa and Dawa Ongju Sherpa reached the summit of Makalu, fifth highest peak, at 10.40 am today. She summitted six 8,000ers in 29 days,” said Pemba Sherpa, managing director of 8K Expedition, her expedition organizer.

This is two days ahead of Nirmal Purja aka Nimsdai’s record of fastest climb of six peaks above 8000m. “This project’s mission, however, is not to break Nimsdai’s record, but to send the message that women are also capable of achieving feats equal to men,” he said. 

Kristin and her two climbing guides started off with the summit of Mount Annapurna on April 28. They summited second 8,000er Mount Dhaulagiri on May 8. She summited Mount Kanchenjunga on May 14 and Everest - Lhotse on May 22. The trio scaled five peaks above 8,000 in 24 days, which was a record time. 

On May 22, Kristin set two records. She completed Mount Everest and Lhotse summit in 9 hours 5 min, beating her previous record of 12 hours becoming the fastest woman to climb the double peak. “In fact, she completed Everest Lhotse traverse in 8 hours and 30 minutes,” said Pemba.

She also became the fastest woman to climb five peaks above 8,000 meter, which she completed in 24 days. 

The plan to summit Mount Makalu within 48 hours after the summit of Mount Everest and Lhotse could not materialize due to weather. “She could have summited the fifth highest peak after the fourth one at least two days earlier had the weather been favorable,” he said.

Nims had climbed Everest, Lhotse and Makalu within 48 hours. 

Kristin and her climbing mates will leave for Pakistan on June 9. Pakistan has five 8,000 peaks—K2 (8,611), Nagaparbat (8,126m), Gasherbrum I (8,080), Broad Peak (8,051) and Gasherbrum II (8,035).

As per the plan, she will attempt Mount Cho Oyu (8,188), sixth highest peak in October from Nepal side, as Nepali climbers are set to open a commercial route from Nepal side. However, her ascent of Shishapangma (8,027m), fourteenth highest peak, is still up in the air. China has not allowed foreign mountaineers till date in the mountain after COVID-19 pandemic. 

Meanwhile, Purnima Shrestha and Lakpa Nurbu Sherpa also summited Mount Makalu. Both the climbers stood atop mountain around at 10:50 am, according to expedition company.

With this, Purnima climbed Nepal's seven of eight 8,000 meter mountains. So far, she has climbed Mount Everest, Kanchenjunga, Lhotse, Dhaulagiri, Annapurna, Manaslu and Makalu. Mount Cho Oyu, however, is climbed from Tibet side till date.

Born and raised in Gorkha, a remote part of Nepal, photojournalist Purnima came into mountaineering for the thrill of adventure. In 2017, Purnima had scaled Mount Manaslu. Next year, she made it to Everest summit without any formal climbing training or proper acclimatization.

Then, a year later in 2019, she scaled Ama Dablam.  In 2021, she successfully climbed Mount Annapurna and Mount Dhaulagiri, becoming a member of the first Nepali female expedition team to reach the summit of these two mountains.