US, Hong Kong climbers set records on Everest

Climbers from the United States and Hong Kong have set new records as they scaled Mount Everest this week, hiking officials said on Friday.

Arthur Muir, 75, became the oldest American to climb the world’s highest peak at 8,848.86-metres on Sunday, an official from the company that organised the expedition said.

“Arthur Muir is the oldest American at 75 years old to summit Mount Everest,” Garrett Madison, expedition leader at the Madison Mountaineering company told Reuters from the base camp.

Muir beat the record set by Bill Burke, who became the oldest American to climb the mountain at the age of 67 in 2009.

Separately, Hong Kong mountaineer Tsang Yin-hung has recorded the world’s fastest ascent of Everest by a woman with a time of just under 26 hours. Tsang, 44, scaled the mountain in a record time of 25 hours and 50 minutes on Sunday, Everest base camp’s government liaison officer Gyanendra Shrestha said.

“She left the base camp at 1.20pm on Saturday and reached (the top at) 3.10pm the next day,” Shrestha told AFP.

But Tsang still needs to present her claim to officials from Guinness World Records to receive certification of her feat, he added. The Nepal government certifies that climbers have reached the summit but does not issue certifications for records.

The fastest woman to conquer Everest had been Nepali Phunjo Jhangmu Lama when she completed the climb in 39 hours 6 minutes.

In 2017, Tsang became the first Hong Kong woman to reach the top. It was her third attempt at scaling the Himalayan peak.

Nepal has issued a record 408 Everest permits for this climbing season after last year’s season was cancelled due to the pandemic. Up to 350 people have summited the mountain so far this spring.