On Easter Sunday, an Italian helicopter pilot named Simone Moro received word of a SOS call on 26,545-foot Annapurna in Nepal. Moro told 国产吃瓜黑料 that a Ukrainian climber was suffering from altitude sickness and exhaustion, and he was stranded at Camp III at 21,500 feet.

The climber’s guiding company, Seven Summit Treks, asked Moro if he could fly his helicopter to that elevation to save the man. Moro has flown rescue missions in Nepal during the spring mountaineering season since 2013. He’s also a legendary alpinist, and has been twice nominated for climbing’s Piolet D’Or Asia award.

鈥淭hey told me the rescue was in Camp III, and I鈥檝e never landed in Camp III,鈥� Moro told 国产吃瓜黑料. Moro has climbed Annapurna before, but he ascended the so-called French route, and not the Dutch Rib route that the Ukrainian climber was on. The one thing Moro did know was that the flight would be dicey.

“I know where the camps are,” he added. “I figured out where it was and I went to Camp III. It was a small landing spot, and the problem was the very very strong wind.鈥�

Flying a helicopter in the Himalayas is a harrowing job. The mountainous terrain is difficult to navigate, and violent weather systems appear without warning. The air is thinner at extreme altitudes, and each rotation of the helicopter’s blades generates less lift than it would at lower elevations. Simply staying aloft at extreme altitude requires pilots to operate close to the performance ceiling of their aircraft with little or no room for error.

“You have to be prepared, technically, physically and also mentally,” Italian pilot Maurizio Folini .”During the mission you feel in control thanks to the helicopter itself which you need to know in minute detail, and thanks also to years of experience that enable you to deal with all technical and natural parameters like wind, altitude, and clouds.”

As Moro flew up Annapurna鈥攚hich is located 165 miles east of Mount Everest鈥攈e encountered strong and gusting downdrafts, which prevented his helicopter from maintaining a steady flight path to the landing zone. Unable to perform a hover test鈥攊n which a pilot hovers above the landing zone to make sure that the helicopter has adequate power to land safely鈥擬oro instead flew toward a narrow ledge on the mountain.

鈥淚 like to keep a certain speed and arrive at the landing spot quite quickly,” Moro said. “The speed is helping you use less power and to keep the nose of the helicopter more steady. Honestly, the landing zone was not so big, and I had to be careful not to hit the blades against the ice.鈥�

Nepal requires all helicopter pilots to fly using what it calls Visual Flight Rules, or VFR, which means the pilot needs to maintain a clear line of sight at all times. A sensible rule, as Himalayan pilots are fond of saying that in Nepal, “all the clouds have rocks in them.”

In 2023, Nepali authorities grounded Moro after he successfully landed his helicopter at Camp III on Mt. Everest at 23,000 feet to rescue a climber. Officials deemed this landing to be above the permitted operating ceiling of the aircraft. Moro told 国产吃瓜黑料 that his license in Nepal has since been reinstated.

On Annapurna, Moro touched the helicopter down on a tiny ledge chipped out听of a corniced ridge by rescuers on the peak. With the blades still spinning, the team opened the helicopter door and loaded in the sick climber with a few empty bottles of oxygen. Moro waited for a brief moment of calm between wind gusts to take off and fly back down to Annapurna Base Camp at 13,550 feet.

Video of the ordeal circulated online shortly after he returned safely to Kathmandu.

 

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According to Moro, this was just another day at work for any of the elite helicopter pilots in Nepal. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 want to describe this rescue as something heroic or special, but for sure it wasn鈥檛 easy because of the conditions,鈥� he told 国产吃瓜黑料.

Moro is one of a few dozen pilots who fly these missions in the Himalayas every year. Pilots work for one of many helicopter companies based in Kathmandu that serve the climbing and mountaineering industry during the busy spring season. The aircraft are usually dispatched for rescues by expedition outfitters, and spend the remainder of their time shuttling climbers and cargo between Kathmandu and remote mountain Base Camps. He is one of only a handful of foreigners that arrive in Nepal each spring to lend their expertise during the busy mountaineering season.

Several hours after Moro made his rescue, another pilot performed two successful long-line helicopter rescues of injured climbers from the same camp. A long-line rescue is where a helicopter lowers a rope to the person in need, and then flies them to safety after they are safely tied to the rope.

According to , there were ten rescues from Camp III on Annapurna this season alone. The website raised questions about whether the prevalence of these rescues indicates that inexperienced climbers are simply looking for an easy way down.

Moro said he was simply happy to help.

鈥淭his wasn鈥檛 a mission that can be performed daily or by just anybody, but it鈥檚 the work we decide to do here,” he said. “I’m happy that I did it.”

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Ben Ayers is a filmmaker, journalist, and adventurer who splits his time between Vermont and Nepal. In 2022 and 2024 he chronicled the Mount Everest climbing season for听国产吃瓜黑料.

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During the spring climbing season, the lobby of the Aloft Hotel in the Thamel district of Kathmandu becomes the de-facto brain center of 狈别辫补濒鈥檚 high-altitude mountaineering industry.

Several of 狈别辫补濒鈥檚 largest guiding companies book rooms for their clients and foreign guides at the hotel before they travel to Mount Everest Base Camp. The owners of these companies often hold meetings around hightop tables in the hotel’s lobby.

The hotel lobby was unremarkable when I visited on Sunday, April 13, except for a pyramid of rugged yellow duffel bags around which a steady traffic of pigeon-chested mountaineers in tight t-shirts, sunburnt Sherpa climbers, and anxious-looking clients in athletic gear flitted like moths.

鈥淚 would categorize most Everest climbers now as the runner type鈥攜ou know, the people who will run a marathon and then start ticking the boxes,鈥� Dutch climber and veteran guide Arnold Coster told me. “They did the marathon, they did Kilimanjaro, they start the Seven Summits and end up on Everest.”

I met Coster at the Aloft Hotel to attend a pre-trip Everest briefing for Seven Summit Treks, an expedition outfitter based in Kathmandu and owned by four brothers: Mingma Sherpa, Chhang Dawa Sherpa, Tashi Lakpa Sherpa, and Pasang Phurba Sherpa. The company is 狈别辫补濒鈥檚 largest outfitter on Mt. Everest by a decent margin.

This year, Seven Summits Treks will bring more than 100 paying clients to Everest. Before the climbers leave Kathmandu, they meet with their group leader to go over the fundamentals of Everest mountaineering and navigating the two-week trek to Base Camp. When Coster, the company’s group leader, invited 国产吃瓜黑料 to sit in on his briefing, I was excited to learn about how guiding companies manage such a diverse and large group of clients.

The briefing was scheduled to start at 10 AM, but was already in full swing when I arrived at 9:30. Eight climbers sat across two plush couches, listening to a tall guide with a blond beard who described the ins and outs of changing money with a casual tone.

The climbers, six men and two women, possessed diverse climbing experience and backgrounds. One woman from India had already summited three 8,000-meter peaks, including Everest, and was returning to Nepal to ascend 27,940-foot Lhotse. For other climbers, this was very clearly their first time in Nepal.

Towering above the eight climbers was Coster, who is among the most experienced 8,000-meter guides in the world. Built like a lumberjack, Coster鈥檚 rugged presence was betrayed by his gentle manner and casual speech.

Between various lessons on packing, lodge etiquette on the trek to Base Camp, and where to ask for toilet paper, Coster returned again and again to reminders for the group to chill out and enjoy the journey.

He also offered sage advice. 鈥淕et to Base Camp as late as humanly possible,鈥� he said. 鈥淩emember, people slowest in the beginning are fastest in the end.鈥� By rushing to altitude, Coster explained, climbers can increase their chances of getting altitude sickness or putting extra stress on their bodies that makes them vulnerable to other illnesses or exhaustion.

Coster said the clientele on Everest has changed over the last few decades. 鈥淯sually they are quite successful in everything they do, in business and in other sports. So they think they鈥檙e going to be good at Everest鈥攁nd that鈥檚 how they start the expedition,” he said. “They are not the traditional climbers who learned climbing the hard way.鈥�

Coster told me that this will be his 21st time guiding clients on Everest, and he has personally helped approximately 150 clients reach the top over the years. But he said that his approach as an overall expedition leader鈥攁nd not a personal guide鈥攃an be at odds with other Everest expeditions that promise hand-holding all the way to the summit.

This strategy, Coster told me, may offer a false sense of security to clients.

Instead, Seven Summit Treks teams its paying clients up with climbing Sherpas who support their clients and lead them up the mountain, but do not make key decisions for the clients like a true guide would. 鈥淚 would describe a Sherpa more as a very strong climbing partner,鈥� said Coster.

鈥淧ersonally, I don鈥檛 believe in fully-guided trips,鈥� he continued. 鈥淲hoever wants to climb Everest should have some personal responsibility. I don鈥檛 believe that people can be guided on these peaks, even if you鈥檙e with a guide one-to-one, because the guide is also struggling at 8,000 meters. There鈥檚 always that factor that the guide might not be capable of taking care of you, including Sherpas, because they鈥檙e also humans.鈥�

The briefing moved on to how best to charge your phones during the 11-day trek from Lukla to Everest Base Camp (pro tip: bring a few good power banks), Coster also gave a brief sidebar on how the high altitudes of the Himalayas impact the body, and what medications to take when it does.

The conversation began to feel to me more like a briefing at a National Park office than one for an expedition to a mountain that has killed more than 340 people. The technical elements of the ascent, I assumed, would be discussed at a later meeting, likely at Base Camp.

鈥淚 have been doing this for so long, I know that everything happens in the rhythm of the mountain.鈥� Coster told me when I asked about the laid-back presentation. 鈥淚 like to just plant the seeds in people鈥檚 minds and see how it develops. It鈥檚 natural selection, you know. If you鈥檙e really not capable of climbing Everest, you鈥檒l fall out early in the expedition.鈥�

As I sunk into the couch, listening to Coster鈥檚 relaxed descriptions of the ultra-deadly Khumbu Icefall, I found myself losing focus. Looking around, it seemed like many of the other climbers were feeling the same way.

A tall thin man in his forties wearing a Wharton Business School t-shirt stood up from the couch and wandered off. As I watched the remaining climbers, I couldn鈥檛 help but admire their sense of adventure and eagerness in the face of sparse information.

The lack of detailed instruction, I realized, was probably the entire point: this group of Everest hopefuls will spend the next month training and climbing as they prepare for Everest and gaining experience first-hand. They will ascend smaller peaks like 20,075-foot Lobuche East or 21,247-foot Mera Peak to acclimatize on their way to Base Camp, and I had a feeling that Coster will be quietly watching and analyzing every footstep.

As much of the Everest climbing industry trends toward increasingly exclusive expeditions with greater levels of personal attention and luxury, I found the scrappy group on the couch refreshing, inspiring even.

鈥淢y goal is to sell an expedition for everybody,鈥� Coster said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 always expensive, but I don鈥檛 want to make it elite.鈥�

Besides, he continues, “If you refuse people based on lack of experience, they鈥檒l just go to another company. I鈥檇 rather have them with me because I鈥檝e been to Everest 21 times, and I can maybe help them succeed.鈥�

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Ben Ayers (right) is a filmmaker, journalist, and adventurer who splits his time between Vermont and Nepal. In 2016 he led an expedition to document the last harvest of wild cliff honey by 狈别辫补濒鈥檚 Kulung Rai people for National Geographic.听

The post Get to Base Camp Late! Tips We Learned at a Mount Everest Safety Briefing. appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.

When I heard that the famed Norwegian mountaineer Kristin Harila was back in Kathmandu this spring, I texted her to see if she was interested in connecting for an interview. Harila, 39, rose to fame within the global mountaineering scene in 2023, when she and Nepali climber Tenjen 鈥淟ama鈥� Sherpa successfully climbed the world’s 14 peaks above 8,000 meters in just 92 days. The expedition still stands as a world record.

“I almost don’t do interviews anymore,” Harila told me. “It’s just written wrong all the time, even in the smallest outdoor magazines in Norway, they just write to get headlines.”

I met with Harila听in the crowded breakfast hall of the Aloft Hotel, towering above the beating heart of Kathmandu鈥檚 Thamel tourist district. Harila was dressed in a patchwork hoodie and was already working her way through an omelet and toast. The room buzzed with Indian tourists on holiday and conspicuous trekkers sporting听bright polypro shirts and pants that zip off at the knee.

Perhaps nobody in the mountaineering world has experienced such emotional highs and lows as Harila over the past two years. Criticism about her record-chasing expedition popped up as she was still climbing peaks. Within days of her July 27, 2023 ascent of K2, murmurs spread within the climbing scene that she and Lama had charged past a dying mountain worker on their way to the summit. Harila has about the incident and provided proof that she and Lama spent several hours trying to save the man

Then, in October 2023, disaster struck: Lama died in an avalanche on 26,335-foot Shishapangma in Tibet. He had been guiding American climber Gina Marie Rzucidlo, who was seeking to become the first American woman to complete all 14 8,000 meter peaks. Minutes after the deadly slide, another avalanche claimed the lives of Anna Gutu, another American, and her guide Mingmar Sherpa. The deaths had a major impact on Harila.

鈥淚 haven鈥檛 had any solace since K2 and since Lama passed away,” she said. “I鈥檓 trying to find my way back to the mountains in some way, but I don鈥檛 know if I鈥檒l ever be able to. I鈥檓 hoping to have a nice time now, but let鈥檚 see how it goes.鈥�

Harila is back in Nepal this year attempting to secure permits to return to Tibet to look for Lama and Rzucidlo, who are still buried somewhere on Shishapangma. She first plans to trek into the Everest region alongside Lama鈥檚 oldest son to acclimatize while she waits. If she has time, she said, she would do something casual like听climb Nuptse or run the Everest Marathon.

“I wanted to search for Lama again, but I was sure that it’s my last. I will do shorter trips, but not two months,” she told me. “I am done with long expeditions.”

This trip to Tibet is Harila’s second attempt to locate Lama and Rzucidlo, after an unsuccessful one last October. In May, 2024, climber Nirmal “Nims” Purja and his Elite Exped guides located the bodies of Gutu and Mingmar. For her 2025 search Harila is hoping to bring a helicopter, a French rescue pilot, and an RECCO听scanner that could ping signals off the reflectors in jackets worn by Lama and Rzucidlo.

The outfitter that helped Harila achieve her record, Seven Summits Treks, is currently working on the complex logistics and permitting of Harila’s mission.

鈥淭here is no one else that has any interest in finding them, other than me, Seven Summits, and Lama and Gina鈥檚 family. I鈥檓 paying for it all myself鈥� Harila told me. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 really care about money.鈥�

As we talked, Harila barely ate. She spoke quickly and emphatically. 鈥淔or everyone it would be good to get them home,” she said. “And if we鈥檙e not successful I鈥檒l probably try to come back in the autumn and try again. I鈥檓 trying to say it鈥檚 the last time now, but I know it will be hard if there鈥檚 an expedition to say 鈥業鈥檓 not coming.鈥欌��

I asked Harila if she felt that her own record-setting expedition in 2023 fueled the culture that led to the Shishapangma disaster.

鈥淚 can only say that I wasn鈥檛 there,” she answered. “That鈥檚 a lesson I learned from K2. The only people that can say what happened on Shishapangma, are dead. The four of them. So I cannot say anything for them, and none of them are here to defend themselves.”

Harila then added: 鈥淚 never thought it would end this way. If I knew, I never would have done it. A lot of these accidents that happened shouldn鈥檛 have happened.鈥�

Our conversation meandered, and as Harila stood up to get a coffee, a middle-aged British trekker in a neon-green running shirt leaned over to me and asked: 鈥淚鈥檓 sorry to bother, but is that鈥︹�� He didn鈥檛 mention her name, only raising his eyebrows in awe. I confirmed it was her. 鈥淲ow,鈥� he said. 鈥淛ust, wow.鈥�

Harila recounted her 2024 trip to Tibet to try and locate the missing climbers. Her fears that the bodies are located in one of two yawning crevasses were diminished by her own investigation: a climbing sherpa had survived the slide intact, and others found Lama鈥檚 backpack and Rzucidlo’s pants and shoes.

These days Harila is financially supporting Lama鈥檚 two sons, aged 15 and 18, and trying to get them to Norway to attend school. She told me about the charitable foundation she established in Norway, called the Lama Sherpa Foundation, which strives to create safety guidelines for mountain workers in Nepal. Harila hopes to someday create a third-party certification program for expedition companies, climbers, and high-altitude workers. 鈥淲e just need to do it safer, and in a better way,” she said.

She shared her dreams of having a farm in Norway and trying out other sports, like running and triathlon.

I felt somewhat awkward as I listened to Harila share her future hopes and dreams. Like many people in the climbing world, I had watched Harila’s life unravel over social media throughout late 2023 and 2024. The 2023 expedition made her famous, but after the K2 controversy Harila went through a painful breakup with her then-boyfriend, and that was followed by Lama鈥檚 death. Each event was personal and also public.

I asked if Harila felt her fame led to her being treated unfairly by media. 鈥淵eah, but not only because of all the people writing wrong things about me,” she said. “Of course I had like, maybe, 20,000 negative comments and hate threats on social media after K2.鈥�

She continued: 鈥淚 probably had more than 200 people write that they were coming to kill me. I have them every day, still. I still have nightmares about everything,” she said. “Today I woke up, and this is like, what comes in in social media, like every day.鈥�

She took out her phone and showed me a series of screenshots of inflammatory social media comments in Norwegian and English that proved her point. 鈥淧eople still believe the story, and this is like every day still,” she said.

But social media is a necessary evil in her life. Harila admitted that, these days, professional climbers cannot fund expeditions to 8,000-meter peaks without maintaining a healthy presence on social media sites like Instagram. Being an influencer is just part of the job鈥攁t best, Harila said, the platforms allow her to express herself directly to the world.

This final point reminded me of my first meeting with Harila鈥攊t was in the lobby of this same hotel in the summer of 2022, minutes after she had returned from her first successful ascent of 27,838-foot Makalu. At the time, Harila was sunburned, weary, and glowing, full of fire and conviction to show the world that women could climb just fast鈥攐r even faster鈥攖han men. At the time I was struck by her conviction and confidence: her expression of strength, demonstrated wholly, one cramponed foot step听at a time.

Less than three years later, the mountains appear to be a different force in Harila’s life: a place of mourning and vitriol; somewhere to acclimatize on the way to recover the bodies of close friends.

As we parted, Harila walked me into the polished marble lobby of the hotel where that British trekker in the green shirt waited. He told us about his upcoming hike to Everest Base Camp, a lifelong dream, and asked if he could take a selfie. I offered to take a few photos of them together. Posing against a plate-glass window, Harlia and the man beamed. He thanked her profusely, heaping her with praise. In that moment, I saw her light again.

鈥淪ee,鈥� she said. 鈥淪ome people still appreciate me.鈥�

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Ben Ayers has covered Mount Everest climbing season for听国产吃瓜黑料 since 2021. He is a filmmaker, journalist, and adventurer who splits his time between Vermont and Nepal. In 2016 he led an expedition to document the last harvest of wild cliff honey by Nepal’s Kulung Rai people for National Geographic.听

The post Kristin Harila Is Searching the Himalayas for Tenjen Sherpa鈥攁nd Solace appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.

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The 2025 climbing season on Mount Everest is off to a busy start this week, with听expedition groups departing for the village of Lukla, at the foot of the Himalayas, to begin acclimatization hikes and climbs on their way to Base Camp.

All signs point to another extremely crowded year on the mountain. While most expedition companies will finalize their permits in the coming weeks, officials with 狈别辫补濒鈥檚 Department of Tourism believe that this year could break the record set in 2023, when 478 paying clients climbed Everest from the Nepal side. Last year, the numbers dipped slightly to 421.

鈥淲e are well ahead of the numbers we saw at this time last year,鈥� Rakesh Gurung, Director of the Nepal Department of Tourism, told 国产吃瓜黑料. 鈥淚 expect that the total number will cross 500 this year.鈥�

The uptick in permits again raises concerns about safety on the mountain, since gridlock on the fixed ropes can create hazards and slow down rescue attempts. In addition to being the busiest year on Everest, 2023 was one of the deadliest, with 18 recorded fatalities.

When asked about managing the increased crowds of summit-seekers and ensuring safety on the mountain, Aarati Neupane, director general of the tourism department said that it was up to the climbers to police themselves.

鈥淕ood mountaineers practice mountaineering ethics,鈥� she told 国产吃瓜黑料. 鈥淎s a developing country we don鈥檛 have the resources to create a rescue team or to enforce all the rules on the mountain. We hope that skilled climbers come with experience, climb safely with our Sherpa teams, and respect the environment.鈥�

Crowds, safety, and permits are some of the biggest storylines to follow on the roof of the world in 2025. But there are other dynamics within the industry of Everest mountaineering, and notable planned ascents, that are also attention-grabbing. And for 2025, 国产吃瓜黑料 will have a front-row seat for for these stories and others: I will be headed to Everest Base Camp in late April to report on the climbing season.

Here are some of the storylines that I will be following on the world’s highest peak.

Flying Drones Get the Green Light

Nepali rules will again require climbers and expedition operators to carry their own feces down from the mountain in biodegradable bags. But Nepali officials in 2025 are also rolling out new infrastructure aimed at reducing waste.

The Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee, the non-governmental organization that focuses on Everest鈥檚 environmental health, is planning to use heavy-lift drones to move garbage down from Camp I to collection centers in Base Camp. This move comes one year after the SPCC tested a FlyCart 30, a cargo drone made by Chinese firm DJI, on the peak.

鈥淚t鈥檚 always been a major challenge to bring the waste down off the mountains.鈥� says Tsering Sherpa, CEO of the SPCC. 鈥淭he drones are for safety, but also to help us use modern technology to bring waste down off the mountain in the most cost effective way possible.鈥�

The drones can carry about 35 pounds of gear at high altitude, and while that may not sound like much, the speed at which they can transport it could be a game changer. It often听takes a porter several hours to ascend from Base Camp at 17,500 feet elevation through the Khumbu Icefall to Camp I at 19,900 feet.

A flying drone, meanwhile, can complete the journey in just 15 minutes, .

Tsering Sherpa told 国产吃瓜黑料 that the drones may also be used to shuttle oxygen cylinders up to the higher camp. This strategy could reduce the number of trips high-altitude workers need to take through the Khumbu Icefall, improving safety by trimming down on the number of trips a porter will make.

A Dry Winter Increases the Danger

After an unusually dry winter, numerous wildfires have blanketed Nepal in a thick haze which has and led to on the planet.

These dry conditions have also impacted climbing conditions. Without any new snow to shore up dangerous features in the mountains, rope-fixing teams are facing increased risk of being hit by falling rock and ice.

Expeditions on nearby Annapurna, typically the first 8,000-meter peak to see climbers summit听each year, aborted their initial ascent due to exposed crevasses and dangerous conditions.

On the second summit bid, the team succeeded without using fixed ropes on the last section. Veteran expedition leader Mingma G, who led the rope-fixing team to the summit, wrote on : 鈥淒ry conditions, more crevasses, hanging seracs made it more difficult. The deathly avalanche between Camp 2 and Camp 3听always scared me. So today I made my final Goodbye to this beautiful mountain. I won鈥檛 be leading any expedition on it in future. This mountain is just too risky. Annapurna鈥檚 beauty always attracted me but I can鈥榯 risk my life here anymore.鈥�

Unfortunately, Mingma G鈥檚 words were prophetic: on Monday, April 7, two experienced climbing sherpas were swept down Annapurna by an avalanche. The two climbers, Ngima Tashi Sherpa and Renge Sherpa are still missing as of publication.

Tsering Sherpa told 国产吃瓜黑料 that these conditions are already impacting the speed of rope fixing teams on Everest. The dry conditions could create more danger for climbers heading through the Khumbu Icefall on their way to Camp I.

鈥淚t鈥檚 much more dangerous this year. Without any snow, the ice is much less stable and more likely to collapse,鈥� he said.

The SPCC鈥檚 team of elite 鈥業cefall Doctors鈥� have chosen a route through the icefall similar to the one used in 2023 to avoid some of these dangers, but progress remains slow. 鈥淩ockfall and high winds have slowed the Icefall Doctors,鈥� Tsering Sherpa said. 鈥淏ut we don鈥檛 have any other options – we鈥檙e taking the safest route based on their judgement and experience.鈥�

Ultrarunners Target Everest Speed Records

This year鈥檚 significant record attempts seem to be focused on speed.听After spending three months at altitude in Quito, Ecuador, American ultrarunner Tyler Andrews has moved his training to Khumbu in the lead-up to his attempt to break the record for the Fastest Known Time (FKT) from 狈别辫补濒鈥檚 Base Camp to the summit of Everest without using supplementary oxygen.

That ascent takes in 11,434 vertical feet. Currently, the speed record for this climb is 20 hours and 24 minutes was set by Kaji Sherpa in 1998. Andrews thinks he can make the climb in under 20 hours.

鈥淚 can confidently say that I am in the best shape of my life,鈥� Andrews told 国产吃瓜黑料 in an email. 鈥淚’m super stoked to be able to get back into the rhythm of regular training in one of the most beautiful places on Earth.鈥�

Andrews also mentioned that he met with Kaji Sherpa and previous speed record holder, French alpinist Marc Batard, in Kathmandu. Andrews said that both men will be present at Base Camp to send him off on his attempt.

But Andrews isn鈥檛 the only ultrarunner targeting the Everest FKT. Swiss-Equadorian mountain athlete Karl Egloff, who previously set an FKT on Denali, has come to Nepal on the tail of setting a new chasing his goal to set speed records on the tallest peaks of all seven continents.

Like Andrews, Egloff will be climbing without oxygen鈥攂ut his record attempt is from Base Camp to the summit and back. According to Explorersweb, Egloff will climb with his partner, Nico Miranda, who will carry emergency oxygen in order to maintain compliance with 狈别辫补濒鈥檚 ban on solo expeditions.

All Eyes on the Xenon Expedition

In March, 国产吃瓜黑料 wrote about an expedition led by Austrian guide Lukas Furtenbach that will bring four clients from the U.K. to the top of Everest and back in just one week. All four are undergoing an experimental treatment using xenon gas prior to the ascent to help them acclimatize to the altitude.

In recent weeks the four climbers have also revealed additional details of the trip. All four are elite British Army veterans, and they are calling the trip 鈥淢ission: Everest.鈥� All four are raising cash for veterans鈥� charities with the climb.

鈥淚’ve got a really busy job, as do the other people on the expedition.鈥� Mission: Everest team member Al Carns told 国产吃瓜黑料 when asked about the climb. 鈥淏eing able to do it at this speed opens up Everest whole other sectors of society. This is how we push forward in science.鈥�

The use of xenon prior to the trip has generated headlines across the globe. In addition to other benefits, xenon is shown to boost the body鈥檚 production of erythropoietin, or EPO, which increases the body’s production of red blood cells. Xenon has not been tested for use at altitude in a clinical trial and is a banned substance for Olympic competition by the World Anti-Doping Agency. The International Climbing and Mountaineering Federation has also issued a statement against the use of xenon, claiming that 鈥渢here is no evidence that breathing in xenon improves performance in the mountains, and inappropriate use can be dangerous.鈥�

But the Mission: Everest mountaineers have argued that the treatment is safe. And they say their rapid ascent will diminish some of the drawbacks of traditional Everest climbs.

In a statement to 国产吃瓜黑料, expedition leader Garth Miller, who is an airline pilot, wrote: 鈥淭he criticism from armchair mountaineers, or those with little experience of the realities of climbing 8,000-meter peaks doesn鈥檛 deter us, and we accept that what we are setting out to do and why has been poorly communicated to the public.鈥�

鈥淚t is all part of the evolution of the sport,鈥� he added.

国产吃瓜黑料 in Base Camp

I leave Kathmandu on April 25th for Lukla, and just like the Everest climbers, I鈥檒l be completing the ten-day hike to Everest Base Camp before spending the next three weeks at the foot of the world鈥檚 highest peak.

I鈥檒l be filing daily content: written stories, online journal entries, and video posts about Everest. My plan is to take you on an inside tour of the biggest stories of the 2025 climbing season鈥攊ncluding the ones I mentioned here, and many others. I鈥檝e lived in Nepal for over 25 years, including many years in the Khumbu valley, and it鈥檚 important to me to share with you the incredible cultural and historic places I visit along the way, and bring you exclusive interviews with the most compelling and influential climbers, expedition operators, and Nepali officials who are impacting life on Everest.

It鈥檚 not going to be an easy assignment, but it鈥檚 going to be an incredible one! So follow along on 国产吃瓜黑料Online and on our social media handles.

Ben Ayers is a journalist, filmmaker, and humanitarian worker who splits his time between Vermont and Nepal. Ben has overseen our coverage of Mount Everest climbing season since 2021. In 2025 his documentary film听Snow Leopard Sisters will be released.

The post 国产吃瓜黑料 Is Headed to Mount Everest this Year. Here Are the Stories We鈥檙e Following. appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.

The spring climbing season on Mount Everest came to an official close in late May when monsoons once again crept up the Khumbu Valley and shrouded the world鈥檚 highest peak in clouds.

The world’s highest peak saw both ambitious climbers breaking new records and images of conga lines clogging the summit ridge this year. But this season’s most notable statistic may be the dramatic downturn in fatalities from the record high in 2023. Nine climbers perished or went missing in 2024, down from 18 a year ago. Why? Experts cannot agree on one specific reason.

Government officials confirmed six deaths during the season, and three others are considered 鈥渕issing,鈥� however they are presumed to be deceased. The downturn in fatalities came amid a busy year on the peak. According to Rakesh Gurung, managing director of 狈别辫补濒鈥檚 Department of Tourism, the agency issued 421 permits to foreign climbers in 2024鈥攄own from 478 last year鈥攁nd approximately 600 people reached the summit, between climbers, high-altitude guides, and other mountain workers.

What Made Everest Less Deadly This Year?

Gurung attributes the decrease in deaths to new safety regulations imposed by regional Nepali lawmakers鈥攔ules that required 鈥攁s well as to greater oversight by government officials. 鈥淩ecognizing the tendency for climbers to push their limits despite deteriorating health at high altitudes, field officers actively engaged with climbers at various camps, emphasizing the importance of safety measures,鈥� he told 国产吃瓜黑料. 鈥淭here was a heightened sense of vigilance and caution among guides and operators.”

Yellow band on Mt Everest (8848.86 m), 20.05.2024. Video 漏: Rajan Dwivedi.

鈥� Everest Today (@EverestToday)

Expedition operators told听国产吃瓜黑料 that there is some truth to Gurung鈥檚 perspective.

Thaneswhar Guragai, general manager of Seven Summit Treks, believes the tragic deaths in 2023 forced Nepali expedition operators to boost safety measures this year. Some forbade clients who were unprepared from venturing to the summit, he said.

“This year the Nepali companies are more cautious about their reputation. If the climber and the guide are not ready, they won鈥檛 send them up to the summit,” he told听国产吃瓜黑料.听“When the situation is not ready, it鈥檚 not like in the past when they would still send the clients. If the client decides to go up, we will stop them and bring them back.鈥�

But others pushed back on Gurung’s assertion that the government’s new safety protocols had a dramatic change. “I never saw the Recco system in anyone鈥檚 clothing or gear, and I don鈥檛 think it would help,” said American guide Garrett Madison.

Did Weather Impact Safety?

Instead, Madison and Guragai pointed to the weather on Everest for creating safer conditions in 2024 than last year. In 2023, temperatures plunged well below freezing during the two-week climbing window, and climbers had to battle extreme cold for most of the ascent. In 2024, some climbers reached the summit wearing baseball caps.

This year climbers enjoyed an early weather window, and several dozen reached the top on May 13. But then high winds and snowfall descended on the peak, pushing the majority of climbing teams to summit when the weather cleared on May 21st. Huge crowds formed on the fixed ropes in the days after, but those climbers enjoyed clear skies and warm temperatures.

“Overall the 2024 season was much warmer than the 2023 season,” Madison said. “So it seemed like less people got sick from colds, viruses, etc, and there were fewer weird fatalities.”

Bili Bierling, manager of the website, Himalayan Database, which tracks ascents on 479 peaks in Nepal, believes climbing teams may have also benefitted from a more intangible factor: good fortune. 鈥淭he conditions and the weather were very stable this year鈥攖he number of deaths is sometimes pure luck, sometimes the conditions,” she said.

Everest Season Still Wasn鈥檛 Perfect

But this spring was far from flawless, and nine deaths is still higher than the annual death total in recent years. According to The Himalayan Database, three people died on Everest in 2022, while five died in 2021, 11 perished in 2019, and five died in 2018. Austrian guide Lukas Furtenbach believes most of the fatalities this year were preventable and could have been avoided with “regulations, uniform minimum standards and mandatory safety protocols.”

One rule guides proposed was limiting climbers from scaling the peak without using supplemental oxygen. Of the nine dead, four were climbing without the use of supplemental oxygen. Mongolian climbers, Usukhjargal Tsedendamba, 53, and Purevsuren Lkhagvajav, 31, were found just below the summit. According to Bierling, who tracks climbers on the 8,000-meter peaks, neither man had previous climbing experience in Nepal, and both were attempting the peak without supplemental oxygen. A Kenyan climber named Cheruiyo Kirui, 40, also died near the summit while climbing without oxygen鈥攈is guide, Nawang Sherpa, has yet to be found. And Romanian climber Gabriel Tabara, 48, was found dead in his tent while attempting to ascend 27,940-foot Lhotse without oxygen.

“There could be a minimum amount of oxygen cylinders for each person, also no solo climbing, clients of guided expeditions are at no point on the mountain left alone and many other basic things,” Furtenbach wrote to 国产吃瓜黑料. “Fourteen of 18 from last year and six of nine from this year died because of a lack of oxygen at some point above Camp III.”

Two other fatalities were also preventable: Pas Tenji Sherpa and his client Daniel Paul Paterson fell to their deaths when an ice cornice collapsed. The two had unhooked themselves from the fixed ropes to navigate a traffic jam on the summit ridge when the accident occurred.

Records Tumble Across the Himalayas

Climbers set several ascent records on Everest in 2024, with notable expeditions completed by Nepali climbers. Photojournalist Purnima Shrestha became the first woman to summit three times in a single season, and Dawa Finjok Sherpa, also of Nepal, became the first person to record four ascents in the same year. Phunjo Lama, another Nepali, shattered the women鈥檚 speed record by climbing from Base Camp to the summit in 14 hours and 31 minutes, and finishing the round trip in 24 hours and 26 minutes.

These ascents came amid a flurry of Nepali accolades in the Himalayas this spring. Nima Rinji Sherpa, an 18-year-old Nepali climber, became the youngest person to summit 28,169-foot Kanchenjunga, marking his 13th ascent of an 8,000-meter peak. Nima Rinji is hoping to become the youngest person to ascend all 14 8,000-meter peaks, and he is now tied with 19-year-old Frenchman Alasdair McKenzie. who has also climbed 13.

Near Everest, a team of Nepali climbers completed a rare ascent of 26,864-foot Cho Oyu from the steep Nepali side. The peak straddles Nepal’s border with China, and most climbers ascend it from China. The successful expedition came after Gelje Sherpa and others had attempted for several years to climb the peak from the Nepali side.

For the first time in four years, China opened the north side of Mount Everest to international climbing expeditions. However, the official announcement was delayed until early May, prompting a number of companies to shift their ascents to the more crowded Nepal side. Overall, north side ascents went smoothly, and a handful of international companies enjoyed having the mountain to themselves.

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At 6 A.M. on May 21, Nepali climbing guide gazed from the summit of Mount Everest for the fourth time in his life. The sun was cresting the horizon, its rays painting the peak鈥檚 eastern face in shades of orange and pink. Vinayak, who holds a certificate from the International Federation of Mountain Guides Association, marveled at the unusually high temperatures atop the mountain鈥攊t was so warm that he removed his gloves to snap photos of his client, a climber from Peru. The conditions were ideal for a summit push, and Vinayak predicted that the 100 or so climbers he鈥檇 seen the day before above Camp III would soon reach the top.

After 15 minutes, the two headed down toward the peak鈥檚 serrated summit ridge, which forms the international border between Nepal and China. The narrow and rocky section, usually scraped bare by wind, was covered in snow from a recent storm. The winds had sculpted the drifts into fin-like cornices that hung over the peak鈥檚 sheer Kangshung Face overlooking Tibet. They looked like gargoyles sitting atop a medieval cathedral.

After descending a few hundred feet, Malla abruptly halted. A massive group of climbers was trudging toward the summit on the knife edge. Both ascending and descending climbers were clipped into the same safety rope, and Vinayak knew that everyone would soon come to a standstill.

鈥淭he line was moving extremely slowly,鈥� he said.

Ahead of Malla stood another descending climber, American Mark Baumgartner, a 49-year-old tech entrepreneur. He had just summited Everest, his first Himalayan peak, reaching the top alongside four guides and assistants.

Baumbartner told 国产吃瓜黑料 that he was unfazed by the traffic jam鈥攖he calm conditions kept his spirits high. 鈥淲hen the weather鈥檚 nice, a busy day means you go slower,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 was happy to go at the pace of the mountain.鈥�

The ascending and descending climbers navigated the narrow section, carefully skirting each other while unclipping and then reclipping into the safety lines. The route took them over jagged rocks, chunks of ice, and the puffy snow cornices. Then the crowd heard a rumble. Without warning, one of the snow ridges detached from the rocks and plunged down the Kangshung Face.

鈥淚t felt like an earthquake,鈥� Malla said. 鈥淭here was a huge noise and everybody jumped back away from the cornice. I cried out because the mountain under us was shaking, but nobody could hear me. Everyone was terrified.鈥�

Baumgartner heard the noise and looked at the ridge line ahead of him. A horrifying scene played out in slow motion: multiple climbers who had been standing on the ledge fell and began sliding downhill. He could see people grabbing the fixed line. 鈥淚 assumed that everyone was clipped into the rope,鈥� he says.

But not everyone was. Baumgartner stands six foot four, and from his vantage point he saw four of the climbers stop falling after the safety rope pulled tight. But two others continued sliding downward toward a sheer dropoff below.

鈥淚 was like holy shit鈥� those people aren鈥檛 stopping,鈥� he says. 鈥淭wo people were sliding to their deaths. And it was silent.鈥�

A Sheer Drop into China

Those who ascend Everest from the south side in Nepal must traverse the mountain鈥檚 daunting southeast ridge鈥攖he final section before the summit. Here, the route narrows after crossing the false south summit at 28,500 feet. Everyone鈥檚 pace slows due to the combination of thin air and traffic.

The route across the ridge shifts slightly each year due to snow conditions, wind, and rockfall. A major change to the route occurred during the 7.8-magnitude earthquake that struck Nepal in 2015. The infamous Hillary Step鈥攁 40-foot vertical rock that Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay famously shimmied up in 1953鈥�partially collapsed, leaving a series of step-like rocks.

No matter the conditions, one element of the route is a constant: the sheer drop-off on either side of the knife edge. In some areas, the walking pathway is no wider than three feet. On one side is a plunge down wind-scoured rock into the Western Cym. On the other is the infamous Kangshung Face, a nearly vertical wall of rock and ice that plunges 11,000 feet to a glacier below.

鈥淔or a first-time Everest climber, the summit ridge might feel the same as the rest of the climb. But as an experienced guide, the dangers are obvious,鈥� Malla said. 鈥淭he soft snow and the cornices are the first thing you notice, and it鈥檚 quite scary.鈥�

This spring, rope fixers encountered a relatively uncommon feature along the section: deep snow. Heavy precipitation deposited drifts on the ridge which were quickly flattened into a platform by the footfalls of the rope fixing team, allowing climbers to quickly and easily progress through the section.

Small groups of climbers pushed for the summit after workers completed the lines to the top on May 11. But strong winds and a violent storm kept most of the expedition operators grounded until the third week of May. That鈥檚 when a week of favorable conditions opened, prompting several hundred climbers and guides to push for the top.

Amid this rush to the summit, gridlock was inevitable. Guides told 国产吃瓜黑料 that in this situation they teach clients how to safely pass slower climbers or those descending from above. The maneuver involves unclipping themselves from the safety ropes as quickly as possible, making the pass, and then clipping back in. It鈥檚 an exercise that鈥檚 only done in areas where fall risk is minimal.

鈥淵ou only overtake when absolutely necessary, and when the situation is safe to do so,鈥� Malla explained. Often, a guide will attach a separate rope to the client as an extra safety precaution, so that one of them is always clipped in.

鈥淲e always use a guide rope or our safety line to attach the client to us,鈥� Malla continued. 鈥淚deally, when you have two guides, you attach on either side of the client so that someone is always connected to the fixed rope.鈥�

But not everyone follows the guidelines during every moment of the ascent. And guides often look for ways to save time on the peak鈥攍imited oxygen puts a premium on a speedy ascent and descent. Some guides simply attach themselves to their clients and opt not to clip into the fixed safety ropes to bypass traffic. We may never know what caused two climbers to tumble down the ledge without being clipped into the safety rope. But sources told 国产吃瓜黑料 that it鈥檚 not uncommon for climbers to quickly unclip from the rope, navigate traffic, and then clip back in.

Cornices and snow often collapse on the high peaks鈥攕omething guides call 鈥渙bjective danger,鈥� or a risk that鈥檚 simply inherent to the mountain and cannot be completely eliminated. But Himalayan experts told 国产吃瓜黑料 that the deadly collapse on May 21 was still shocking. Billi Bierling, Everest summiteer and director of the Himalayan Database, an online archive of expeditions, said she鈥檇 never heard of a fatal accident of this nature. 鈥淚鈥檝e never heard of it near the summit, and I鈥檝e been doing this job for more than 20 years,鈥� she said. 鈥淏ut maybe this is what is happening with climate change, and with it getting warmer. Maybe it was not necessarily only too many people, but also the warm temperature that made this thing collapse.鈥�

Paralysis at 28,000 Feet

Baumgartner and others who had witnessed the collapse stood on the summit ridge in shock. Those nearest the accident site helped pull the four climbers up on the fixed ropes鈥攖hey had tumbled approximately 30 feet below the ridge. Others watched in silence. Baumgartner wondered if what he鈥檇 just seen was real.

鈥淎fter three or four minutes I saw the people that were clipped to the rope start to climb back up,鈥� Baumgartner said. 鈥淭hen I realized that we were all kind of stuck because the mountain broke away.鈥�

The delay stretched on for ten minutes, then 15, then 20. Nobody could see where the two missing climbers had fallen, but it appeared that they鈥檇 disappeared over the Kangshung Face. Malla said the group seemed to be paralyzed鈥攕hould they look for the two missing men or continue down the peak?

鈥淚n the death zone, search and rescue isn鈥檛 always possible,鈥� Malla said. 鈥淏esides, there wasn鈥檛 any point as they were definitely dead.鈥�

Malla realized that one of the missing men was a Nepali guide named Pas Tenji Sherpa who, just minutes before, had stood alongside him on the summit. Malla said Pas Tenji had reached the top of Everest wearing a white baseball cap on his head鈥攁 testament to the balmy conditions. His climbing client鈥攍ater identified as 40-year-old British climber Daniel Paul Paterson鈥攈ad been wearing an oxygen mask, but Pas Tenji had not, Malla said.

鈥淗e was obviously very strong because he was guiding his client without using oxygen himself,鈥� Malla said. 鈥淗e was a young guy, very talented.鈥�

Malla had glimpsed Pas Tenji鈥檚 white baseball cap navigating through the crowds near the Hillary Step just moments before the collapse. Now, both Pas Tenji and Paterson were nowhere to be found.

Malla believes Pas Tenji and his client must have briefly unclipped from the fixed ropes to overtake slower climbers at the exact moment the cornice collapsed. 鈥淗e and his client were passing on the outside of the cornice that came off the ridge,鈥� Malla said. 鈥淗e had likely attached his safety line to his client when it collapsed.鈥�

Raising Funds for a Search

News of the deadly collapse spread quickly from Camp IV down to Everest Base Camp. Pas Tenji had been guiding for operator 8K Expeditions, which organized a team of climbers to sweep the summit ridge for the missing men. But the search came up empty. On May 26, attempts to locate the two were suspended.

Paterson鈥檚 partner, Beck Woodhead, launched a GoFundMe page in the days following his disappearance. The proceeds, she wrote, would offset the costs of a recovery mission to bring his remains home.

鈥淗e is known for his adventurous spirit, his kindness, and his unwavering dedication to helping others,鈥� Woodhead wrote on the page. 鈥淣ow it is our turn to help him.鈥�

Sources have confirmed that efforts are underway to secure permission from the Chinese government to search the Kangshung Face with helicopters flown from the Nepal side. But China is historically a tricky partner in recovery missions for international climbers. Sources told 国产吃瓜黑料 that the mission will require coordination between the Nepal, China, and UK governments.

鈥淚t is going to be difficult to search for them because they have fallen on the Tibet side which needs coordination,鈥� Khim Lal Gautam, an official with the Nepal Department of Tourism, .

A Ticking Clock near the Summit

As more climbers ascended the ridge, the traffic jam at the Hillary Step grew longer on both sides of collapsed cornice. But nobody wanted to climb down, Malla said. He snapped photos of the logjam鈥攂ut he knew he had a responsibility to get his client to lower elevation.

鈥淣obody wanted to move. Nobody had the courage,鈥� Malla said. 鈥淲e were all running out of oxygen. I realized that I had to do something. So I moved forward and started breaking a new trail.鈥�

Malla walked around the waiting climbers and affixed himself to the now-empty rope. He slowly moved across the steep face, kicking footsteps in as he went. Once he reached the other side, one climber followed, then another. In his eyes, Malla helped prevent a greater tragedy atop the peak. Had climbers continued to stand around in shock, some could have run low on oxygen and died.

After a few minutes, it was business as usual on Everest once again. Malla and his client descended to Camp III where they spent the night and continued down to Base Camp.

Baumgartner and his team took a brief rest at Camp IV and continued all the way to Base Camp. After witnessing the disaster, he had one objective in mind.

鈥淚 just wanted to get off the mountain,鈥� he said.

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Every year, a vast ecosystem of Nepali mountain workers helps hundreds of climbers ascend and then descend Mount Everest. In 2024, approximately 1,500 of these guides, porters, cooks, rope fixers, and expedition operators will support the 414 paying clients on the peak.

Abiral Rai, 33, is one of these unsung heroes. Abiral is not Sherpa鈥攈e is from the Thulung Rai ethnic group, one of many found across 狈别辫补濒鈥檚 eastern hills. He grew up in a small village in the Solukhumbu district of eastern Nepal, about a six-day walk south of Everest Base Camp. He began his career at age 18 by portering loads of rice, soda, and other supplies for the commercial trekking industry in the Khumbu Valley, and then ascended through the expedition industry鈥檚 labor force until he became a high-altitude mountain guide. In 2019 Abiral completed his certification with the International Federation of Mountain Guides Association (IFMGA).

This year, Abiral is working as a VIP guide for expedition companies Climbing The Seven Summits and TAG Nepal to help his client, a 29-year-old business owner from Singapore named Blake Li, reach the top. Abiral spoke to 国产吃瓜黑料 shortly after he and Li returned from their second acclimatization rotation on Everest鈥攁 hike to higher elevations to prepare their bodies for the summit push. He gave us a glimpse of daily life on the world鈥檚 highest peak.

Day 1: Navigating the Khumbu Icefall

Midnight, Mount Everest Base Camp (17,500 feet)

Abiral wakes alone in his tent and eats a quick breakfast of porridge, boiled eggs and toast. He gives his assistant, Tenzing Sherpa, the 22-pound bag of high-altitude gear his client packed the night before. Tenzing is paid by the weight that he carries, and on this trip he has chosen to carry a double-load totaling 70 pounds. Then, Abiral stuffs a sleeping bag, climbing and safety gear, a mattress, food, and water into his pack. He and Tenzing meet Li, and the three start hiking toward the peak. This is not their summit push, but a four-day acclimatization ascent up to Camp III at 23,500 feet. It鈥檚 still dark as they head down the trail, and their headlamps light the way to the Khumbu Icefall.

2 A.M., Khumbu Icefall (18,000 ft)

Abiral and Li reach the base of the notorious Khumbu Icefall, the dangerous glacier on the peak’s southwest face that is riddled with crevasses and collapsing ice blocks. Here, they both don crampons and remove warm layers to avoid overheating and soaking themselves with sweat. Due to their ability to travel quickly together, they are among the first to reach the tricky section. Every year, the Icefall Doctors, the route fixers who focus specifically on this section, establish the ever-changing pathway through the dangerous glacier. They break the route into sectors, assigning each a number from one to five.

3:30 A.M. The Football Ground (18,300 ft)

Abiral and Li pass sectors one and two quickly, stopping just once for a drink. They encounter the first large crevasses on sector three鈥攁 massive crack in the ice that鈥檚 bridged by aluminum ladders and safety ropes. Abiral crosses the ladders first and then holds the safety lines tightly to provide more support for Li. After they complete the third sector, they reach a wide-open area of the icefall known as 鈥渢he football ground.鈥� This area is safe from collapsing ice and rockfall, so the pair rests for ten minutes.

5:45 A.M. Danger Is Everywhere (19,000 ft)

Sector four of the Icefall presents two sizable dangers: unstable snow bridges across deep crevasses, and huge seracs towering overhead. Abiral walks faster through this section to minimize their exposure to avalanches. Traveling under darkness means the air temperature is colder, and the glacier ice is more firm. This reduces but does not eliminate the risk of avalanches. Just as the sun begins to rise, they meet a group of 30 load-carrying workers and climbers waiting beneath a 150-foot tall vertical wall of blue ice. Two nylon ropes dangle down the steep face of this terrifying fifth and final sector. Progress is slow, as the workers with heavy loads must remove their backpacks, climb up the fixed ropes, and then haul their gear up behind them. After waiting for several minutes, Abiral jockeys his way onto one of the nylon ropes and uses an ascender called a 鈥淛umar鈥� to scale the sheer incline. Once at the top, he hammers two aluminum anchors into the ice, secures his own guide rope, and drops it down to Li. Li ascends the fixed rope while Abiral’s guide rope adds an extra level of safety.

7:15 A.M. Reaching Camp I (19,900 ft)

Past the vertical ice, the route turns into a dangerous glaciated plateau, strafed by occasional rockfall. Abiral ties a rope to Li, and the other end to himself for safety, allowing one of them to quickly stop a fall should the other fall into a crevasse. They move as quickly as possible through this section. The sun is still low in the sky as they walk into Camp I. They find their section of tents, which were set up days before by other workers on their team. Abiral unloads their personal gear and sets up sleeping bags and mattresses in the tent that he will share with Li. He then heats water on his small gas stove and they drink tea and eat the last of their trail snacks. They will spend the rest of the day here, chatting with other climbers, resting, and allowing their bodies to acclimatize to the altitude.

5:30 P.M. An Early Bedtime

Abiral and his client have spent the last ten hours resting in Camp 1: hydrating, going on short walks, talking to other climbers, and trying their best to avoid the burning sunlight. Dinnertime comes early and with little fanfare. Abiral cooks a freeze-dried meal for Li with his camp stove. He eats a large bowl of mashed potato flakes with chili powder. They retire to the tent and are asleep by 8 P.M.

DAY 2: Avoiding Rockfall in the Western Cwm

6 A.M. Sherpa Oatmeal (19,900 feet)

Abiral wakes in the dark and cooks another freeze-dried meal for his client. Then, he cooks his own food: a large helping of 鈥渢sampa,鈥� a Sherpa staple made of roasted buckwheat flour. They get onto the trail. Even though the walk to Camp II is short鈥攍ess than two miles with 1,500 feet gained in altitude鈥攊t鈥檚 safer to complete the journey early in the morning before the sun warms the glacier and triggers avalanches along the route. Abiral also prefers to walk in the cool temperatures鈥攄irect sunlight slows clients down. The same journey may take twice as long during the heat of the day, and the exposure can lead to painful sunburn. As they walk, Abiral keeps an eye open for rockfall coming off the Nuptse face to their right.

9 A.M. A Short Journey to Camp II (21,000 feet)

Abiral and his client arrive at Camp II, which resembles a small, bustling city atop a rocky outcropping. The collection of tents is located halfway up the wide and dramatic undulating valley called the Western Cwm (pronounced 鈥渃oom.鈥�) There are 300 people here, the CTSS/TAG Nepal camp alone boasting 53 people. Guides, cooks, assistants and other workers mill about busily. Abiral prepares the tent, and then he and his client rest. Around noon, they meet in the heated dining tent and enjoy lunch.

5 P.M. Speeding up the Ascent

Abiral is impressed by Li’s strength at altitude. After discussing with him, Abiral decides to skip the rest day in Camp II and to instead venture higher onto the peak the next morning. He and his client eat dinner early and then head back to their tent. They are asleep by 6:30 P.M.

Day 3: A Punishing Climb Into Thin Air

3 A.M. Departure in the Dark (21,000 feet)

Abiral eats a quick breakfast of porridge, toast, and an omelet. He packs a light bag of snacks, two liters of water, and his warmest climbing gear. Above Camp II, the terrain and the temperature demands that he and the client don a set of heavier boots, gloves, and a full down suit. They rope themselves together, leave camp at 5:30 A.M., and walk across the glaciated valley towards the looming Lhotse Face.

7:30 A.M. A Wall of Rock and Ice (21,500 ft)

After nearly two hours of walking, Abiral and Li reach the base of the Lhotse Face, an intimidating, nearly-vertical 2,000-foot wall of rock and ice leading up to Camp III. Here, the climbing requires using jumars that allow climbers to ratchet themselves up the fixed ropes. This year, heavy winter snowfall never arrived on Everest, and now the route is mostly ice and rock. The hard surface makes the climbing more difficult and increases the potential for injury or death. Loose rocks and ice tumble down the slope as Abiral and Li begin the ascent. They started their day so early so that they could be alone on the tricky section, and avoid the famous traffic jams of climbers following in their footsteps. The Lhotse Face is often where photographers snap images of hundreds of climbers standing in a queue to reach the top. Abiral knows that at this altitude, speed means safety. Li’s strength on the jumar line is an asset鈥攐n previous ascents, Abiral has had to rope himself to clients that struggled on the incline and tug them upward. But this time, he and Li ascend at the same pace.

9 A.M. Reaching Camp III (23,500 ft)

After reaching the top of the Lhotse Face, Abiral and Li follow fixed ropes across exposed terrain for another few hundred feet to reach Camp III. The jumble of tents鈥攂oth standing and shredded鈥攕it between rocks, ice, and piles of gear. A few workers are chipping away at the bare ice to make room for additional tents. Abiral snaps a few photos and eats some chocolate. But this is a brief moment of enjoyment. Peering down the Lhotse face, Abiral sees a long line of climbers, guides, and high-altitude workers beginning to ascend the steep roped section. This gaggle of ascending people will create headaches for anyone heading downhill. So, after just 15 minutes, Abiral makes the decision to head down to minimize waiting time on the ropes. They don rappelling devices and begin to descend.

11 A.M. Traffic Jam (22,500 ft)听

In many places on the Lhotse Face, there is only a single rope for both ascending and descending climbers. Despite moving quickly, Abiral and Li must wait for ascending climbers to pass. They locate safe anchors on the lines for each pass鈥攊t’s a time consuming but necessary step to ensure their safety. Rappelling down the face takes only 45 minutes without traffic, but today it takes Abiral鈥檚 group nearly two hours. They return to Camp II in time for lunch at noon. At 12:15 P.M. it begins snowing heavily, depositing more than 8 inches at Camp II over the course of the afternoon. Abiral is delighted by the new powder鈥攊t will make the Lhotse Face safer when they return in a week for the summit push.

Day 4: Back to Base Camp

4 A.M. An Early Descent (21,000 ft)

Abiral wakes up in the dark and packs his high-altitude boots, gloves, and other gear into a duffel bag that will stay in Camp II until he returns for the summit push in a week or so. After a quick breakfast, he and his client rope together and set out into the fresh snow below camp. The route they followed two days ago is now gone, and they must navigate slowly and carefully, following small flags that indicate safe passage through the glaciated terrain. By 6:30 A.M. they reach Camp I, where they retrieve the filled poop bags that they stashed on the way up. They hydrate and descend into the Khumbu Icefall.

7 A.M. A Final Bottleneck (19,000 feet)

As Abiral and his client arrive at the vertical wall of ice in the Khumbu Icefall鈥檚 fifth sector, they encounter a long line of heavily-laden workers and climbers waiting to descend. They wait for 45 minutes for the traffic jam to ease, and to save time Abiral fixes his own anchor into the ice and lowers his client down the cliff using his personal guide rope. This practice gives Li an added layer of safety in the case of a fall. Abiral quickly follows, rappelling down the fixed ropes before another climbing group can get on. As they continue the descent, Abiral notices that the icefall route has already changed significantly since they climbed through only two days ago. There are new crevasses to cross and fresh ladders. In some places, the old route has disappeared into a crevasse, or been buried by falling ice. By 10:30 A.M., they reach the foot of the icefall and remove their crampons. Abiral estimates that they have passed at least 70 clients, workers, and guides since departing Camp II.

11 A.M. Safe At Home (17,500 ft)

Abiral and Li return to the relatively thick air of Base Camp, where hot drinks and lunch are waiting for them. Abiral has maintained close radio contact with the Base Camp team throughout the climb, and they know what Abiral and Li like to eat. Li downs a sandwich, boiled vegetables, fried fish and a salad. Abiral eats a giant plate of rice and lentils with chicken. After lunch, Abiral arranges laundry and a hot shower for Li. He does not schedule bathing time for himself, as he believes that showering weakens the body at extreme altitude. Abiral notices that the other clients and guides are starting to develop a slight cough from being at altitude for so long, and he doesn鈥檛 want to do anything that might weaken his immune system. He returns to his tent and video calls his wife to let her know he is safely back in Base Camp. In the afternoon, he scrolls through his latest photos, updates his Instagram, and prepares for the clients-versus-guides ping-pong tournament scheduled for the next day.

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The 2024 climbing season on Mount Everest is in full swing this week as some expedition teams are arriving at Base Camp and others have begun acclimatization rotations on the peak. As 国产吃瓜黑料 recently reported, the official start on the mountain鈥檚 Nepali side is delayed this year due to dangerous conditions in the Khumbu Icefall. The circuitous route through the glacier that precedes the easier climbing up to Camp I and Camp II is longer than the one used in previous years, due to an unusually dry winter and a lack of snowfall.

The scheduling delay and new route aren鈥檛 the only dynamics impacting expeditions on the world鈥檚 highest peak this year. Competition from China has drawn some climbing teams away from the southern Base Camp in Nepal. And new rules and regulations imposed by the Nepali government will shift how some teams handle safety, decorum in Base Camp, and even poop.

Climbers may encounter slightly fewer of their peers along the route to the top, as recent statements from officials in Nepal hint at a smaller crowd than in recent years. According to Rakesh Gurung, Director of 狈别辫补濒鈥檚 department of tourism, the country expects to issue approximately 400 climbing permits for the season鈥攄own from the record-breaking 478 last year. As of April 22, 365 permits had been granted to 34 different expedition teams. Permits for three additional teams are still being processed, Gurung said.

鈥淐limbing permits are down across all the peaks,鈥� Gurung said. 鈥淥ne reason is the global economic situation, and another is that China is open for Everest permits this year.鈥�

China Attracts Summit Seekers

Indeed, China has once again opened its borders to Everest climbers in 2024 following a four-year closure due to Covid. Unlike the Nepali Base Camp, the Chinese Base Camp can be accessed by car, making the transport there much easier. Some expedition operators prefer to climb from the Chinese side, claiming that Everest鈥檚 Northeast ridge is less vulnerable to avalanches and rockfall than the southern flank. The smaller crowds on the Chinese side present another advantage.

But there鈥檚 a drawback in climbing from China鈥攃urrently, the government has yet to issue the final permits to Everest expeditions, or even allow climbers into the country. Just this week officials told expedition operators that they would be allowed to enter the country on May 7鈥攕ignificantly later than originally planned.

鈥淭hankfully the north side doesn鈥檛 have the same end-of-season issues that the south side does,鈥� Adrian Ballinger, CEO of Alpenglow Expeditions, told 国产吃瓜黑料. 鈥淭ibet is in the rain shadow of Everest and the monsoon is generally much later. It鈥檚 not our ideal, but everyone is doing their best and that鈥檚 our plan.鈥�

The Everest delay is just one curveball facing climbers in China. The country recently canceled all climbing on 26,335-foot Shishapangma and 26,864-foot Cho Oyu.

The uncertainty prompted Seven Summits Treks, 狈别辫补濒鈥檚 largest Everest operator, to cancel its Chinese Everest expedition altogether, moving all eight of its clients to climb in Nepal. 鈥淲e have had clients waiting here [in Kathmandu] for 15 days, and our Shishapangma clients have been waiting since April 5th,鈥� said Thaneswhar Guragai, the company鈥檚 general manager.

The cancellation of permits on Cho Oyu and Shishapangma presents a significant setback for climbers hoping to complete all 14 peaks above 8,000 meters this year, and two well-publicized expeditions hoping to retrieve the bodies of four victims of an avalanche last October. The deceased are American climbers Anna Gutu and Gina Marie Rzucidlo, along with their guides Mingmar Sherpa and Tenjen 鈥楲ama鈥� Sherpa. Two months before the avalanche, 鈥楲ama鈥� earned the speed record for climbing all 14 8,000-meter peaks in 92 days, along with Norwegian climber Kristin Harila.

New Rules in Nepal

A record number of Everest fatalities in 2023, combined with the mounting pollution on the peak, prompted Nepali officials to enact new regulations governing expeditions. The regulations oversee a wide swath of operations, from climber safety to the size of tents allowed in Base Camp. The most cumbersome rule may be the new mandate that all climbers must carry their human waste down off the mountain in biodegradable bags and deposit it at a collection center at Base Camp.

The local government body that oversees the Everest region, the Khumbu Pasang Lhamu Rural Municipality, is responsible for this program. According to Jagat Prasad Bhusal, the organization鈥檚 chief administrative officer, officials are still debating what, exactly, to do with all of that poop.

“We are currently exploring options for handling the feces. If feasible, we will either convert it into manure or dispose of it safely near Tengboche or Pangboche in Upper Khumbu,鈥� he said.

Expedition operators who spoke to 国产吃瓜黑料 expressed positive sentiment toward the poop rule, despite the logistical challenges it presents. 鈥淭his will be beneficial in the future because the whole world is looking towards sustainability. A small contribution to help the mountain is never a bad idea.鈥� Guragai said.

Another new rule requires climbers to wear RECCO-style tracking reflectors during their climbs. In theory, this technology allows rescuers to find lost climbers by using a specialized transponder that tracks the reflectors. But there are doubts this will work in Everest鈥檚 extreme altitude and vast terrain. 鈥淲e don鈥檛 know how well it will work,鈥� Gurung told 国产吃瓜黑料 鈥淏ut let鈥檚 try.”

Gurung said Nepali officials are planning to make GPS tracking mandatory in future seasons. The devices will improve safety, he said. “This will also reduce false summits,” Gurung added.

To enforce these new rules, 狈别辫补濒鈥檚 department of tourism has opened a field office at Base Camp. Officials stationed there will make sure expeditions follow the regulations, and they will also teach climbers lessons on mountain safety and “expedition ethics,” Gurung said.

鈥淭he rules and regulations are one thing. But people have to be aware of their own abilities, too,鈥� Gurung said. 鈥淚f something happens at 8,000 meters, a rescue is basically impossible. If expedition ethics are followed in these situations, the number of casualties will be reduced greatly.鈥�

Despite the new regulations and the slight downturn in climbing permits, officials still expect the route to become crowded. Advanced weather forecasting means most expedition operators head onto the peak at the same time to take advantage of clear skies. And many expedition operators send as many, or more, guides onto the peak as paying clients.

An estimated 1,500 porters, guides, and Sherpas will be working above Base Camp to build camps and ferry gear, and the total number of climbers heading for the summit from both sides is likely to surpass 700, officials said.

Gurung told 国产吃瓜黑料 that officials will examine the 2024 season to see if the government should make additional changes for the future. 鈥淭here are many issues鈥攄o we only want to make Everest cheaper? Should it be accessible to everyone or not? Gurung said. 鈥淲e鈥檝e discussed these things many times. Let鈥檚 see what the future brings.鈥�

Record Chasers and Adrenaline Junkies Return

As is often the case, a handful of record-chasing climbers will attempt to make history on the world鈥檚 highest peak in 2024. One climber, 59 year-old Russian alpinist and mountain guide Valeriy Babanov, is attempting to become the oldest person to reach the top of the world without supplemental oxygen. Babanov is a two-time winner of the coveted Piolet d鈥橭r award for first ascents in India and Nepal including a solo ascent of the Shark Fin on India鈥檚 famed Meru Central peak (6,310 m). 鈥淚鈥檝e been preparing for this all my life,鈥� he wrote on Instagram.

Two Nepali women are seeking their own records: Purnima Shrestha is hoping to become the first woman to summit three times in a single season, and Phunjo Lama is attempting to reclaim her record for the fastest ascent by a woman. Both women face major challenges with their respective efforts due to the 2024 route through the Khumbu Icefall, which adds approximately two hours to the total ascent compared to 2023.

Everest legend Kami Rita Sherpa, 54, will attempt to complete his 29th Everest summit, breaking his own world record, set after two back-to-back ascents last year. If successful, this would also mark his 43rd trip to the summit of an 8,000-meter peak.

A top international BASE jumper named Tim Howell is also targeting a record: the highest wingsuit jump in history. Howell plans to ascend from Base Camp to the southern face of 27,940-foot Lhotse, which is located next to Everest. He plans to then jump from just below the summit鈥攖he sheer face makes it perhaps the highest spot on the globe where a wingsuit jump can be accomplished. 鈥淚 like the idea that this can鈥檛 be beaten.鈥� Howell told 国产吃瓜黑料.

鈥淚t鈥檚 the highest wingsuit jump in the world.鈥� Howell expects to reach speeds of 160 mph on his descent, dropping over 16,000 feet in under five minutes.

Could such a jump ever be done from the summit of Everest? It鈥檚 not impossible, Howell told 国产吃瓜黑料. 鈥淢aybe with the advancement in suits, somebody who is willing to risk it all maybe could do it one day,鈥� he said.

Tulsi Rauniyar contributed to this report.听

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In late July, 2022, Nepali mountaineers Pasdawa Sherpa and his uncle Dawa Ongju Sherpa were breaking trail high on the summit ridge of 26,414-foot Broad Peak in Pakistan. The two were working as guides for Norwegian climber Kristin Harila, who was attempting to set a speed record for summiting the world鈥檚 14 peaks above 8,000 meters, which is currently held by Nepali mountaineer Nirmal Purja.

In an instant, an avalanche swept two Sherpas off the ridge. Alive but shaken, they freed themselves and continued towards the summit, only to be hit by another slide.

鈥淎t that point we knew we should turn back鈥� Dawa Ongju told 国产吃瓜黑料. 鈥淏ut we thought, 鈥業f we live, we live. If we die, we die. It doesn鈥檛 matter.鈥� So we risked our lives and continued on to the summit.鈥�

鈥淲e did it all for Kristin,鈥� he said.

The trio continued, eventually reaching the top. Broad Peak was the eighth summit that Harila reached alongside the two men, and her success and unorthodox climbing strategy drew attention from international media. Other record seekers on the high peaks often use fresh teams of sherpas for each mountain, but Harila told the media that she wanted to make history alongside her two guides, both of whom work for outfitter 8K Expeditions. 鈥淧asdawa and Uncle Dawa are amazing.鈥� Harila told me in May, 2022. 鈥淚 would love to share the record with them. I don鈥檛 need it to be focused on myself.鈥�

But in November 2022, the relationship between the three abruptly dissolved, despite the trio having two more mountains to ascend: 26,864-foot Cho Oyu and 26,335-foot Shishapangma. Both peaks are typically climbed from China, but the country鈥檚 borders were closed due to the pandemic, and Harila couldn鈥檛 secure permits to enter the country. She planned a winter ascent of Cho Oyu from the Nepal side, but Pasdawa and Dawa Ongju were conspicuously absent from her roster. Pasdawa and Dawa Ongju did not provide specifics for why they stopped working with Harila, but a representative from 8K Expeditions said in a March 2023 interview that there was a disagreement over payment.

Harila鈥檚 Cho Oyu bid was unsuccessful, and a few weeks later she announced plans to pursue the speed record on the 14 peaks in 2023 alongside a different outfitter鈥攂ut she invited Pasdawa and Dawa Ongju to join her on her first two climbs in April, Cho Oyu and Shishapangma, so they could complete the 14 peaks together.

国产吃瓜黑料 spoke to Pasdawa and Dawa Ongju in April, 2023, and they admitted that the situation left them with hurt feelings, but they both wished Harila well on her 2023 attempt. 鈥淲e were planning to share the record, so of course this hurts.鈥� Dawa Ongju said. 鈥淲e struggled together, and we put our lives on the line for her. But I give her my blessings.鈥�

Shortly afterwards, their permits to climb the peaks from the Chinese side were not approved, and Harila wound up climbing without them. When their travel plans fell apart for the second time, their feelings changed. Dawa Ongju wrote an icy message on Facebook. 鈥淲e carried all the gear, backpacks, crampons, clothes, water bottles, oxygen canisters, camera, backup batteries, food and all the equipment while giving priority to Kristin. She did not have to lay a single meter of rope nor tie a single knot. After receiving our cancelled [sic] passports back we were shocked and dumbfounded,鈥� he wrote. 国产吃瓜黑料 reached out to the Chinese consulate in Kathmandu about the travel problems but did not receive a response. Six days after their travel plans fell through, Harila summited Cho Oyu, and by the end of May she had climbed four additional 8,000-meter peaks.

Harila also declined to discuss specifics of why she chose to work with a different expedition operator in 2023. 鈥淚 think people believe that this was our project, but the thing is like it was actually my project from the start,鈥� she told听国产吃瓜黑料听in April 2023.

The dissolved relationship highlights a lopsided power dynamic that has existed for decades in Himalayan mountaineering. Western climbers often earn celebrity status and sponsorship cash for ascending the highest peaks. The media attention generated by these accomplishments fuels their future expeditions, and sometimes even helps them navigate the tricky diplomatic barriers that stand in the way of the mountains. But the high-altitude workers who help them rarely achieve stardom or wealth. Their climbing and survival skills in the world鈥檚 harshest climate are among the best, and their job is difficult and dangerous. And when a problem arises鈥攂e it avalanches or visa issues鈥攖hey are often on the losing end.

鈥淎s Sherpas, we often do not get the credit for the job we do,鈥� Pasdawa says. 鈥淲e labor, but the clients get the spotlight. It鈥檚 hurtful. It would have been completely different if we had a chance to climb in Tibet this year.鈥�

Dawa Ongju and Pasdawa鈥檚 inability to obtain travel visas to China had consequences for their careers. Both men said that completing the 14 peaks would have boosted their value as guides, and given them credibility to branch out into other types of work, like mountaineering education.

鈥淚鈥檝e had 37 successful summits of 8,000 meter peaks in my career. But that alone isn鈥檛 enough.鈥� says Dawa Ongju. 鈥淚 really really want to teach and train other climbers. But people won鈥檛 listen to me unless I have some sort of a record. That鈥檚 what upsets me.鈥�

Many of the current generation of 狈别辫补濒鈥檚 strongest high altitude workers grew up in the cash-strapped remote villages of eastern Nepal, with very few opportunities for education. Dawa Ongju left school to join the workforce after the third grade, Pasdawa after the fifth. Pasdawa and Dawa Ongju cite their lack of education as the reason they must work on the high peaks. 狈别辫补濒鈥檚 flagging economy makes finding employment in other industries tricky, and relative to other jobs in Nepal, mountaineering pays well.

In recent years the wider world has slowly opened its eyes to the plight of Sherpa climbers on Mount Everest and other Himalayan mountains. A 2014 study done by 国产吃瓜黑料 found that Sherpa climbers face a workplace fatality rate of 4,053 deaths per 100,000 people鈥攁 rate ten times greater than the U.S. military鈥檚 fatality rate in the Iraq war.听Earlier this spring the , who has climbed Everest a record 28 times. Kami Rita told the听Times that he struggles to support his family of four in a rented Kathmandu apartment, and that he hopes his children pursue a profession away from the high peaks.

Both pay and recognition for Sherpas has been improving in the last few years. Nepalese climber Nirmal 鈥淣ims鈥� Purja, who is not Sherpa, says he鈥檚 seen more acknowledgement of Sherpa climbers鈥� accomplishments within international mountaineering.

鈥淭he Nepalese community have always supported people to make their big mountain dreams a reality鈥攆rom the Sherpas, guides and porters to tea house owners, base camp cooks and teams. Often their contribution has been overlooked. But I think there has been a shift recently in the way the Nepalese climbing community is being recognized for this work, which is really positive.鈥�

Harila, for her part, thinks that climbers generally respect and appreciate their sherpas.

鈥淵eah, of course, climbers care most about saying I reached the summit. But I also understand that is because they have put so much into that,鈥� Harila said. 鈥淎nd they have paid for the service that the fixing team does, the company does, and the sherpas do. So I think most of the time, I see that the climbers are really appreciating the sherpas.鈥�

There鈥檚 also an uptick in Sherpa-owned expedition companies that now take paying customers听to the top of the highest peaks. But among the cadre of record-chasing celebrities in the tight-knit circle of climbers, few are Sherpa.

Part of this is due to the self-promotion skills and international relationships that record-chasing climbers must cultivate in order to fund their expeditions and navigate diplomatic hurdles. Both Pasdawa and Dawa Ongju cited their lack of English and personal marketing as the main factors that have held them back on the global mountaineering scene.

Some Sherpa climbers have tried to make names for themselves by pursuing speed records. In 2022, 31-year-old climber Gelje Sherpa raised funds via the crowdfunding site GoFundMe while attempting to become the youngest to scale the 14 peaks. Like Pasdawa and Dawa Ongju, Gelje was prevented from entering China to ascend Cho Oyu, and instead mounted an unsuccessful mission to ascend it from the Nepal side.

On April 26, Harila summited 26,335-foot Shishapangma alongside a Norwegian filmmaker and two guides: Tenjen Sherpa and Mingma Sherpa. Six days later, she topped out on Cho Oyu. By the end of May, she had climbed three other peaks.

Pasdawa and Dawa Ongju, meanwhile, were on the slopes of Everest, establishing camps and leading new clients on acclimatization rotations through the dangerous Khumbu Icefall. If successful, this trip will mark Dawa Ongju鈥檚 eighth trip to the summit and Pasdawa鈥檚 11th.

Despite his frustration, Dawa Ongju said he wishes Harila good fortune. 鈥淔rom my side, she was my family. I still consider her family鈥� I鈥檒l be so happy if she succeeds,鈥� he said.

When asked if he and Pasdawa could break the speed record on the 14 peaks if given access to Harila鈥檚 resources, his response, punctuated by the clamor of a noisy basecamp kitchen, came quickly:

鈥淲e鈥檇 be able to go twice as fast because we wouldn鈥檛 have to wait for the clients to catch up,鈥� he said. 鈥淚鈥檓 entirely confident that we could break the record by at least a month.鈥�

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It was late August when Kristin Harila answered our call from her grandmother鈥檚 house in Norway, where she was staying between expeditions in Pakistan. Harila, a 36-year-old former elite cross-country skier, had just sold her apartment in Oslo to help fund her quest to become the fastest person to climb the world鈥檚 14 peaks above 8,000 meters (26,246 feet). At the time of our interview, Harila still had three peaks remaining to surpass Nirmal 鈥淣ims鈥� Purja as the fastest to ascend all 14. In late October, Harila eventually conceded that beating the record would not be possible鈥攕he was unable to gain access to China to climb Cho Oyu and Shishapangma.

OUTSIDE: To complete the record, you need to climb 26,906-foot Cho Oyu and 26,289-foot Shishapangma, the latter fully in China, which is still closed due to the pandemic. Have you made any progress in securing permission to climb there?
KRISTIN HARILA: I am still optimistic. Of course, the COVID situation doesn鈥檛 make things any easier, but we are willing to quarantine both in Tibet and in Nepal if we have to. I think we just have to try what we can until we cannot.

Was watching the documentary 14 Peaks instrumental in your decision to attempt to break the record?
The movie came out after I decided, but of course I knew about what [Purja] had done and it was an inspiration for me. I wanted to show that it鈥檚 possible for a woman to do something that many people believe is only possible for a guy. I was thinking more and more about the 8,000-meter peaks. I really wanted to do them all, and I thought: OK, if I鈥檓 going to do them all, I want to do them fast, because last year I was 35, and I don鈥檛 have kids. I want to have kids, and I think that if I am lucky enough to have kids, then I won鈥檛 want to climb 8,000 meters for a while, because I won鈥檛 want to be away for so long.

Your stated goal is to prove that there is a place for women in the world of high-altitude mountaineering. Have you seen women treated unfairly?
Yes. In the industry, the brands support 90 percent men, even in Norway. If you look at the pages where they present their athletes, it鈥檚 almost entirely men. This isn鈥檛 just one company; it seems to be all of them.

On K2, my group had more women than men this year. But I still couldn鈥檛 find a down suit for women鈥攖hey were only produced in men鈥檚 sizes. Big international brands came out with new collections just for men. For me it鈥檚 like they鈥檙e saying, 鈥淕irls can go hiking, but the high mountains are for the cool men.鈥�

It also seems to be more socially acceptable for men to leave families behind when they go climbing than it is for women.
It is. We see in the community all the time that it鈥檚 very acceptable for a man to leave a small kid at home, while for the women, not at all. But also I鈥檓 seeing more mothers coming to climb. Like my friend Becks Ferry. She has five kids and she has climbed, I think, six 8,000-meter peaks now. I really respect the mothers that are going out and doing this.

Now that it鈥檚 possible to helicopter between mountains and to climb all 14 peaks in a matter of months, some feel that this style of ascent doesn鈥檛 fall within the category of 鈥渇air means.鈥�
First of all, I think as long as people are telling the truth and are open about how they climb, then it鈥檚 OK. We shouldn鈥檛 care if someone wants to climb Everest in three weeks. If they use hypoxic tents and fly directly to Base Camp, pour on the oxygen and have four Sherpas, I think it鈥檚 OK. It鈥檚 a different type of climbing, in a different style, and it鈥檚 changing, but the rest of the world is changing also.

I have to say it鈥檚 very different鈥攖otally different鈥攖o climb a mountain without ropes. It鈥檚 so much easier to just put the jumar in front, rest, pull yourself up. Like on Gasherbrum I, it was very steep. We pushed like 1,000 meters up in only seven and a half hours, but it was very long getting down, because we had to go backward using our ice axes. Of course, there were no people and so no steps. When you go on Everest and K2, it鈥檚 like going on steps all the way, and with ropes there it鈥檚 so much easier.

You want to share the record with your Sherpa guides, Pasdawa and Dawa Ongchu.
I wanted to give them the opportunity to climb them all, because I think it鈥檚 nice if we can show the world the job that they do, how important they are. But of course they have to want to, because it鈥檚 not an easy job for them or for me to climb to 8,000 meters. They always have an opportunity to not climb if they don鈥檛 want to. I don鈥檛 pressure them.

On the mountain we do different things, of course. They carry more, they fix more ropes than I do. But it鈥檚 not like they carry me, or that I don鈥檛 carry anything. Like on K2, I had 20 kilos [44 pounds] in my pack all the way, because two members of the team were out front fixing ropes. I can carry, and I go in front sometimes. But when it鈥檚 a very hard day, they, of course, fix ropes.

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