Nepal’s Phunjo Lama smashes women’s record for fastest ascent of Everest by 11 hours: ‘inspiration for female climbers’
- Climbers usually take days to reach the top of the 8,849-metre mountain, but Phunjo Lama conquered the world’s highest peak in 14 hours and 31 minutes
- Lama shaved more than 11 hours off the previous best that had stood since 2021. It means she has reclaimed her own world record
Nepal’s Phunjo Lama smashed the record on Thursday for the fastest ascent of Everest by a woman, conquering the world’s highest mountain in 14 hours and 31 minutes.
Climbers usually take days to reach the top of the 8,849-metre (29,000-foot) mountain, spending nights on its different camps to rest and acclimatise.
But Lama, who is in her thirties, shaved more than 11 hours off the previous best that had stood since 2021. It means she has reclaimed her own world record.
“She started [from the base camp] at 15:52 on May 22, summited 6:23am May 23,” said Khim Lal Gautam, chief of the tourism’s department field office at the base camp.
Earlier this month, when Lama was still at base camp, she said in a post on Facebook that she was “100 per cent sure” she would reach the top of “the Mother Goddess”.
In 2018, Lama clinched the record for the fastest ascent by a woman by climbing Everest in 39 hours and six minutes.
