Climber sets new goal to scale 14 tallest peaks within three months

A Norwegian aiming to be the fastest climber to scale the world’s 14 highest mountains said she can achieve her goal in half the time she initially planned.

Kristin Harila, on return to Nepal’s capital from the mountains on Tuesday, said she is setting a new target of scaling the peaks in three months, having already climbed eight of them in 40 days.

She is trying to beat the 2019 record set by a male climber, who did it in little more than six months.

She also reached K2 last year.

“I believe we can do it, if we do Manaslu now and the five in Pakistan, we can do in three months. So yes, three months is possible if we do Manaslu now,” she said.

“We are very happy we have made eight and we are all safe and everyone is good,” she said.

Ms Harila began in April by scaling Mount Shishapangma, followed by other peaks in China as well as Nepal, including Mount Everest.

Her latest one was Mount Annapurna on June 5.

Norwegian climber Kristin Harila, 37, left, and her guide Tenjen Sherpa pose for a photograph in Kathmandu, Nepal
Norwegian climber Kristin Harila, 37, left, and her guide Tenjen Sherpa pose for a photograph in Kathmandu, Nepal (Niranjan Shrestha/AP)

“It was very nice but very difficult to climb Annapurna alone. No one was around, it was different. When there is lot of people it is much easier,” she said.

Ms Harila began her attempt in April 2022 with the aim of completing it by September.

But she only managed 12 peaks because Chinese authorities restricted access to foreign climbers during the coronavirus pandemic.

The current record is held by Nirmal Purja, a Nepal-born British citizen who scaled the 14 highest peaks in 189 days in 2019, beating the previous record of more than seven years set by a South Korean climber.

Mr Purja’s climbs were later made into a popular Netflix documentary, 14 Peaks: Nothing Is Impossible.

– Advertisement –
– Advertisement –