The Everest Speed Record Stood for 23 Years. An American Ultrarunner Just Smashed It by an Hour
Tyler Andrews climbed from Everest Base Camp to the 29,032-foot summit in 9 hours 55 minutes on May 28, 2026, breaking Lhakpa Gelu Sherpa's 2003 record — and beat the round-trip mark by nearly two hours too.
On the morning of May 28, 2026, American ultrarunner Tyler Andrews did something no one had managed in 23 years: he beat Mount Everest's speed record. Andrews climbed from Everest Base Camp (5,364m) to the 8,849m summit in 9 hours 55 minutes — more than an hour faster than the mark Nepali climber Lhakpa Gelu Sherpa set in 2003, a record that had outlasted every attempt to break it for more than two decades.
Key facts
- New record: 9h 55m, Base Camp to summit, May 28, 2026
- Old record: 10h 56m, set by Lhakpa Gelu Sherpa in 2003
- Round trip: 16h 32m, nearly two hours faster than the previous 18h 30m mark
- Andrews, 36, of Concord, Massachusetts, is a cancer survivor and former US collegiate distance runner
Both climbs used supplemental oxygen and standard route-fixing support — this is a speed record set within the normal commercially-guided system, not an alpine-style solo. What makes it remarkable is the margin: Andrews didn't inch past a 23-year-old mark, he obliterated it, then turned around and beat the round-trip record too.
A record built on failure, twice over
Andrews didn't arrive at 9h 55m by accident. He had spent more than a year chasing an even harder goal — Everest's no-oxygen speed record — and the public story of his 2026 record starts with two very public defeats.
Andrews announces he will attempt Everest's no-oxygen speed record, a far harder mark than the oxygen-assisted one.
He reaches Camp III (roughly 7,300m) in 4h 32m — on pace — before a torn boot gaiter zipper exposes his foot to the cold and forces a retreat.
A rare autumn attempt gets him to roughly 26,400 feet before unstable snowpack and avalanche danger turn him back again.
Andrews shifts to an oxygen-assisted push and posts 9h 55m Base Camp-to-summit, and 16h 32m round trip — both new marks.
By his own account, Andrews spent eight attempts and six figures of his own money chasing an Everest record before this one landed. He climbed with a support team that supplied oxygen, food and water along the route, tracked live via GPS — a far cry from the no-oxygen solo mark he originally set out for, but a legitimate record in its own right, set on the mountain's standard route in the middle of the world's busiest climbing season.
| Split | 2003 (Lhakpa Gelu Sherpa) | 2026 (Tyler Andrews) |
|---|---|---|
| Base Camp to summit | 10h 56m | 9h 55m |
| Round trip (summit and back) | 18h 30m | 16h 32m |
Nepal's mountaineering authorities typically take weeks to formally ratify a new record, and as of this writing Andrews' climb was still awaiting that official sign-off — standard procedure, not a mark against the achievement, which multiple outlets on the mountain independently tracked and reported in real time.
What this means for trekkers
Andrews' 9h 55m run and the 12–14 days most of our own trekkers spend walking to Everest Base Camp aren't really the same sport — and that's the point. His record depended on months of altitude prep, a full support crew and a near-perfect weather window; ours is built the opposite way, with a slow, staged ascent that lets your body acclimatise properly. If Everest is on your list, the mountain rewards patience far more often than it rewards speed.
Andrews has said the climb was also a fundraiser, supporting coaching and equipment access for young athletes in Ecuador and Nepal. For everyday trekkers, the real takeaway is simpler: the same Base Camp trail he ran in under ten hours is one you can walk in comfort over two weeks, watching the mountain the whole way instead of racing past it.
Source: CBS News
Cover photo: VANNGO Ng via Pexels (Pexels License).
Source: CBS News
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