Sherpa reaches Everest peak in record time

An ace Sherpa guide scaled Mount Everest in a record eight hours and ten minutes today, Nepalese mountaineering officials said.

Pemba Dorjee, aged 26, raced from the 17,380-foot base camp to the 29,035-foot summit, a climb that usually takes about four days, officials at the Mountaineering Department in Katmandu said.

Dorjee last year climbed the mountain in a record 12 hours and 45 minutes, but his mark was eclipsed three days later by another Sherpa guide, Lakpa Gyelu, who made the journey in 10 hours and 56 minutes.

Dorjee had vowed to reclaim the record.

The experienced Sherpa began his journey late yesterday, hiking all night up the mountain’s steep and icy slopes.

Dorjee, who is married and has two children, vowed also to set new records for most time spent on the summit and traversing the mountain – beginning his climb from Nepal, reaching the summit and descending on the Tibetan side.

The record for the most time spent on the summit is 22 hours, but most climbers spend only about half an hour there because of the extreme cold, wind and snow.

Sherpas were mostly yak herders and traders living high in the Himalayas until Nepal opened its borders to tourism in 1950.

Their stamina and knowledge of the mountains makes them expert guides and porters for foreign mountaineers.

Since New Zealander Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay first conquered Everest on May 29, 1953, more than 1,400 climbers have scaled the mountain.

About 180 people have died on its unpredictable slopes.