Norwegian climber Kristin Harila has broken the record for the fastest ascent of the world's 14 highest peaks, men and women combined.
We Rock Sport told you about it a few weeks ago. This year, Kristin Harila had successfully climbed all 14 of the world's 8,000 m peaks, joining a very select group of mountaineers. But the Norwegian climber had no intention of stopping there, and planned to continue her ascent in order to become the fastest climber (men and women combined) to reach all 14 summits.
This was achieved on July 27, when Kristin Harila and her devoted partner Tenjin (Lama) Sherpa reached the last summit on the list, K2 in Pakistan. In doing so, they managed to climb the summits of 14 mountains topping 8,000 metres in a time of just three months and one day (92 days). The previous record was six months and six days. This feat is all the more remarkable given that the Norwegian climbed her first major mountain in 2015.
It remains to be seen whether the Norwegian climber's record will stand the test of time, which may well be the case, as several professional mountaineers have expressed reservations about the value of her records, which depend to a large extent on the logistics put in place around the athlete. Kristin Harila, for example, did not hesitate to use the helicopter several times to move from one mountain to another and transfer her equipment, which was then carried by numerous sherpas. She chartered a helicopter to reach the foot of the Gasherbrum range in Pakistan. In any case, it would seem difficult today not to use the same means for a mountaineer hoping to do better than the 92 days required to climb the 14 summits. But perhaps the question is more whether the future of mountaineering lies in records of this kind...
During her 14 Summits attempt, Kristin set multiple world records:
- The fastest ascent, men and women combined, of the world's 14 peaks over 8000 metres, with Tenjin (Lama) Sherpa: 92 days.
- First Norwegian, first Scandinavian to reach 14 summits).
- The fastest person to conquer the world's five highest mountains - Everest, K2, Kanchenjunga, Lhotse, Makalu (69 days) in 2022.
- The fastest person to conquer the world's five highest mountains 2 times - Everest, K2, Kanchenjunga, Lhotse, Makalu (439 days) in 2023.
- The fastest person to reach six mountains in Nepal in spring - Annapurna, Dhaulagiri, Kanchenjunga, Everest, Lhotse, Makalu (29 days).
- The fastest woman to climb Everest, followed by neighbouring Lhotse (less than 8.5 hours on May 22, 2022).
- The fastest woman to climb 14 peaks over 8000 metres (92 days).
