Kristin Harila of Norway summited Everest at 8:45 am today. She retreated to Camp 4, rested a while, and at 5:55 pm local time, she has just summited Lhotse.
Pasdawa and Dawa Wongchu Sherpa accompanied her. The three are currently making their way back down to Base Camp.
There will be no rest for Harila afterward. Tomorrow, she’ll helicopter to Makalu Base Camp and start running up again.
“All going well, she’ll reach the summit on May 24,” Lakpa Sherpa of 8K Expeditions told ExplorersWeb.
Harila summited Kangchenjunga last week with Oncel Dawa Sherpa and Pasdawa Sherpa. Photo: Kristin Harila
Nirmal Purja stunned the world by summiting six 8,000’ers in 31 days. Now, Harila looks poised to beat that mark. She has already summited five 8,000’ers in 24 days.
This season, she has already summited Annapurna (on April 28), Dhaulagiri, and Kangchenjunga. If the Makalu planning works, she could get done with those six Nepal 8,000’ers in 26 days.
This also suggests that what Purja started as a once-in-a-lifetime challenge has become a new trend in the Himalaya.
The physical strain of such a schedule is hard to imagine. But according to Lakpa, Harila wants to send the message that “women can do it too”.
“She is good,” Lakpa Sherpa said about Harila’s physical condition. “The problem may be the weather. it is getting worse.”
