KATHMANDU – Top-notch American athlete Tyler Andrews, a professional runner and climber, has smashed the age-old speed record for a supplemental oxygen-assisted ascent to the summit of Mount Everest, reaching the top from Base Camp in less than ten hours on Thursday.
Tyler, a 36-year-old man from Concord, Massachusetts, conquered the mountain that stands at 8,849 metres (29,032 feet) in the sky in only 9 hours and 55 minutes. With this feat, he has shaved well over an hour from the existing record of 10 hours and 56 minutes set in 2003 by renowned Nepali mountaineer Lhakpa Gelu Sherpa.
“Tyler reached the Everest summit in just 9 hours and 55 minutes,” confirmed the team leader Dawa Steven Sherpa of Asian Trekking. Andrews made his speedy solo ascent to the peak of Mount Everest just before sunrise on Thursday. During his swift climb, his support team supplied him with oxygen, food, and water.
The achievement follows a huge test in the mountain. Andrews, who himself is a survivor of cancer and who uses these altitude records to raise money for impoverished young athletes in Nepal and Ecuador, was at first hoping to make the climb without any supplemental oxygen. But poor weather and acclimatization problems in early May forced him to alter plans to try the climb using supplemental oxygen.
The unprecedented speed is yet to be validated officially by the Nepali Department of Tourism and Mountain Administration. The unprecedented achievement of Andrews comes amidst one of the most successful yet congested climbing seasons ever, with more than 950 ascents reported amid a relatively brief period of favorable weather. While Andrews’ success is remarkable, there have been warning bells about safety and overcrowding around the peak as the window closes on what has already been quite a busy season on the highest peak of the world.
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