Norwegian climber Kristin Harila on Sunday improved her record by scaling Mount Everest (8,848.86m) and Mount Lhotse (8,516m) back-to-back in less than 10 hours.
“She completed two summits in 9 hour and 5 minutes,” Pemba Sherpa of 8K Expedition told Everest Chronicle from the base camp.
This is a world record for female climbers. However, Nepali climbing guide Mingma Dorchi Sherpa holds the record for being the fastest person to scale both Mount Everest and Mount Lhotse in a record time of 6 hours.
Kristin, however, beat the record of Nirmal “Nims” Purja. He had done the double in 10 hours and 15 min.
Kristina on Sunday stood atop the world highest peak at 8.30 am, setting a world record of scaling the four 8,000ers in 24 days, five days earlier than the fastest climb record set by Nirmal Purja in 2019. She spent 30 min on the summit, according to Pemba.
On the same day, she reached the summit of the fourth highest peak at 5.50 pm, her fifth 8,000er, becoming the first climber to summit five peaks above 8,000 meters in 24 days.
She was accompanied by Nepali climbers Dawa Ongju Sherpa, Pasdawa Sherpa, Mingma Dawa Sherpa, and Pasang Tenzi Sherpa.
Last year, she became the fastest woman to climb Everest and Lhotse in a record 12 hours. She climbed Everest and Lhotse this year as she wants to set a record of climbing 8,000ers in 6 months.
If she succeeds, she will beat the record recently set by Nirmal ‘Nims’ Purja and chronicled in the Netflix documentary film 14 Peaks: Nothing is Impossible. Nirmal completed all 14 peaks in 6 months and six days.
She started off with the summit of Annapurna (8,091m), 10th highest mountain in the world. She then scaled Dhaulagiri (8,167m), seventh highest peak, in 10 days from her first ascent. On May 14, she climbed Mount Kanchenjunga, third highest mountain of the world.
“She will attempt to summit Mount Makalu in less than 48 hours to break Nims Dai’s record,” said Pemba.