Fastest time to climb the higher 8,000ers

The fastest climber to reach the top of the five highest peaks in the world is Kristin Harila (Norway), who, in 2022, completed expeditions to Kangchenjunga (14 May 2022), Everest (22 May 2022), Lhotse (22 May 2022), Makalu (27 May 2022) and K2 (22 July 2022) in just 69 days.

In 2021, Harila - a former cross-country skier - became the first woman to climb Everest and Lhotse in under 12 hours. Empowered by this, she decided that her next challenge would be to summit all 14 peaks over 8,000 m (26,250 ft) in just six months, targeting the (then) record of 6 months 6 days held by Nirmal Purja. She set out on 28 April 2022 with a climb of Annapurna, establishing a target date of 3 November. Unfortunately, ongoing COVID restrictions meant that she was unable to secure permits to climb the Chinese mountains Cho Oyu and Shishapangma. Although she was forced to abandon her initial goal after topping her 12th 8,000er - Manaslu on 22 September 2022 - she still climbed 12 of the peaks in an unrivalled 147 days. In the meantime, the resetting of a number of world records relating to the 8,000ers now means that the target to beat is still Nims Purja but with the amended time of 2 years 168 days.