KATHMANDU: A Nepali woman has set the record for climbing Mount Everest, the world’s highest peak, in less than fifteen hours. Phunjo Lama reclaimed the title of the fastest woman to climb Everest on Thursday’s morning. She started the climb from the base camp at 3.52pm on Wednesday and reached on the 29,032-foot summit at 6.23 am local time on Thursday.
“She has scaled Everest in 14 hours and 31 minutes,” stated Khim Lal Gautam, a senior official with the Expedition Monitoring Field Office at the Everest base camp, local media reported. Ms. Lama hails from a remote village called Chhokangparo in the Tsum Valley of the Manaslu region. She first gained international recognition in 2018 when she set the record for the fastest woman to climb Everest in 39 hours and 6 minutes. This record was broken in 2021 by Ada Tsang Yin-hung from Hong Kong, who completed the climb in 25 hours and 50 minutes. Determined to reclaim her title, Ms. Lama decided before this climbing season started to make another attempt, according to Shiva Bahadur Sapkota, general secretary of the Everest Summiteers Association.
Ms. Lama, reportedly a single mother in her thirties, has trained in the Swiss Alps and Nepal’s Himalayas. She said “Through my climbing, I wish to empower the women in Nepal and inspire other young girls to chase their dreams and show them that anything is possible.” She also expressed a desire to become a mentor for other young women aspiring to be climbers.
Meanwhile, Nepal has introduced new regulations for mountaineers in the Himalayas following a deadly year in which 18 people died on Everest.
