Climbing Records of Mount Everest

Written by Ruru Zhou Updated Apr. 12, 2021

Mt. Everest is always a dreamland for adventurous traveler who want to prove great climbing ability. They are proud of themselves for conquering the highest peak in the world. On May 29th, 1953, people first reached the summit of Mt. Everest. After that, climbers from all over the world were dedicated to reaching the top and successfully conquering it.

The Climbing Lists of Mount Everest

1953: First ascent, by Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary in 1953 British Expedition.
1960: First reported ascent from the North Ridge by Wang Fuzhou, Gonpo and Qu Yinhua of China.
1975: First female ascent, by Junko Tabei (16 May).
1978: First ascent without supplemental oxygen by Reinhold Messner and Peter Habeler.
1980: First winter ascent, by Polish National Expedition Winter 1979/1980 (Leszek Cichy and Krzysztof Wielicki).
1980: First solo ascent, by Reinhold Messner.
1988: First "cross-over" climb by Chinese, Japanese and Nepalese teams which ascended the peak simultaneously from both the North and South sides of the mountain and descended down the other side.[284] The cross-over climb was also the first to be recorded on live broadcast television.
1998: Fastest to reach the summit via the southeast ridge (South Col), without supplemental oxygen, by Kazi Sherpa, in 20 hours and 24 minutes.
2001: First ascent by a blind climber, Erik Weihenmayer.
2004: Fastest to reach the summit via the southeast ridge (South Col), with supplemental oxygen, by Pemba Dorje, in 8 hours and 10 minutes.
2006: Lhakpa Sherpa summits for the 6th time, breaking her own record for the most successful female Everest climber.
2007: Fastest to reach the summit via the northeast ridge, without supplemental oxygen, by Christian Stangl, in 16 hours, 42 minutes.
2008: Chinese athlete delivered the Olympic torch to the top of Mt. Everest, making it the highest Olympic Torch Relay in the world.
2010: Youngest to reach the summit, by Jordan Romero (13-year-old).
2011: Most times to reach the summit, Apa Sherpa (21 times; 1990–2011).
2013: Melissa Arnot, American, summits for the 5th time breaking her own record for most successful summits by any non-Sherpa woman.
2017: Kami Rita Sherpa of Alpine Ascents reaches 21 ascents to the summit.

Who is the First Man to Summit Mt. Everest

In May of 1953, Zealander Edmund Hillary and Nepalese Tenzing Norgay successfully ascended to the top of Mt. Everest. They were the first people to reach the summit of Mt. Everest and the time they reached on the top was at 11:30 am. They represented a British Expedition and started mountaineering from the southeast route in Nepal. Tenzing later admitted that Edmund Hilary was the first one set his foot on the summit.

The Oldest Climber to Climb Mount Everest

The oldest person to ascend Mt. Everest was Japanese Miura Yiuchiro (Japan, b. 12 October 1932), who reached the summit on 23 May 2013 at the age of 80 years 223 days. Miura and his nine-person team climbed up the southeast ridge, using the same route pioneered by Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norway 60 years ago. This is the 3rd time that he has held this record: he previously reached the highest point on Earth as the world's oldest mountaineer in 2003 and 2008. He has spent a lifetime defying the odds.

Fifteen Times to Summit with No Sherpa

American Dave Hahn has the most non-Sherpa summits with 15 (out of 19 tries), the most recent in 2013. Mt Everest had long been a magnet for Hahn, but it didn't come easy for him. He made his try in 1991 and reached the top in 1994, 1999, 2000, and then seven years in a row from 2003 to 2013. In 2006, he got to the top twice and he failed to reach the summit in 2001 because he abandoned his own summit attempt to assist other climbers who were in trouble. For that, Hahn was the recipient of the David A. Sowles Award for unselfish valor from the American Alpine Club.

Who is the first Woman to Summit Mt.Everest

The first woman to reach the summit of Mt. Everest is Junko Tabei in 1975, a Japanese mountaineer. Before the climbing, she had trained for a long time. There are 9 Sherpa guides with her team. On the way, they came across an avalanche, and the guides and all the climbers were buried under the snow. Tabei was unconscious when being dug out by a guide. But she did not give up and 12 days later, she became the first woman set on the summit of Mt. Everest.

The Oldest Woman to Summit Mt. Everest

The oldest woman to the summit was Japanese Tamae Watanabe, age 73, in 2012 from the north side of Tibet. Tamae was a Japanese mountaineer and worked as a public office employee. She had great passion in climbing and began to climb mountains when she was 28. In 2002 when she was 63, she became the world’s oldest woman to climb to the summit of Mt. Everest. And again, she reached the 8850-meter-high summit from the north ridge.

The Youngest Woman to Summit Mt. Everest

The youngest woman to summit was Indian Malavath Poorna, who lives in a small tribal village and learned to climb at school. She completed the dangerous Mt. Everest mountaineering journey from the north side on May 25, 2014, at the age of 13 years, 11 months -- just one month younger than the previous record-setter, an American boy named Jordan Romero who made the climb in 2010, the BBC reports. “When I reached the top, I felt too much emotion, too much joy,” she told people via phone as she described being overcome with awe after scaling the world’s highest mountain. “All around me, snow, mountains, sunshine, clouds. I could feel God there. I was grateful and so happy.”