Nepalese mountaineer Phunjo Lama has broken the women's record for the fastest ascent of Everest, reaching the summit in 14 hours and 31 minutes, a Nepalese tourism official confirmed on Thursday.
Lama set off at 3:52 p.m. on 22 May and reached the 8,849-metre-high peak at 06:23 a.m. on 23 May, Khim Lal Gautam, head of the local tourism office, said at the base camp.
The Nepalese climber, who is in her thirties, beat the previous record, set in 2021, by a remarkable 11 hours. In doing so, she also surpassed her personal record from 2018, which stood at 39 hours and six minutes.
The fastest ascent of Everest by a man is by Nepalese climber Lhakpa Gelu Sherpa, who conquered the summit in a swift 10 hours and 56 minutes in 2003.
Lama’s historic achievement came as the climbing community grieved the death of 40-year-old Kenyan mountaineer Joshua Cheruiyot Kirui. Contact was lost with Kirui and his Nepalese guide, Nawang Sherpa, 44, on Wednesday morning on Everest. That marked the Nepalese climbing season’s sixth death, three of them on Everest.
In 2023, more than 600 climbers reached the summit of Mount Everest, a year blighted by a record-breaking 18 deaths.
