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.