This week, a visually impaired man, a 75-year-old American, and a 45-year-old woman made records as the first blind man, the oldest man, and the fastest woman to reach the summit of Mt. Everest.
This week, various individuals made new records at climbing Mt. Everest, the world's tallest mountain.
On Thursday, Zhang Hong became the first visually impaired Asian to reach the summit of Mt. Everest, while Arthur Muir, 75, became the oldest American to climb the peak according to the expedition organizers.
Hong Kong's Tsang Yin-Hung, 45, became the fastest woman to reach the peak at 8,848.86-meters (29,031 feet) in less than 26 hours, when others took several days.
Tsang had tried to reach the summit earlier in May but was stopped by poor weather conditions when she was at 8,755 meters. She had to return to base camp and climb again to make her record attempt.
"I am... relaxed and happy because I set this target around four years before," she told AFP. "I have always shared with my students and my friends that if you aim high and expect high, you can achieve high."
Tsang set out from the base camp at 1:20 p.m. local time (0735 GMT) on Saturday and reached the top at 3:10 p.m. the following day, said Gyanendra Shrestha, a Nepal government official.
While Zhang completed the Himalayan feat with three high-altitude guides becoming the first blind man from Asia and the third the world.
"No matter if you're disabled or normal, whether you have lost your eyesight or you have no legs or hands, it doesn't matter as long as you have a strong mind, you can always complete a thing that other people you can't," Zhang told Reuters.
Zhang said he was inspired by Erik Weihenmayer, a blind American mountaineer who scaled Everest in 2001 and went on to train for the climb with his mountain guide friend, Qiang Zi.
Back on May 25, as Zhang was on his descent, a Covid-19 outbreak was reported at the base camp of Mount Everest but the local government had downplayed the situation and announced that many foreign climbers can continue their climb.
Nepal recently reopened the mountain to climbers after closing back in 2020 during the pandemic.
The month has been eventful for the mountain when Bahrain celebrated the ascent of the first Bahraini team to reach the summit, which included Prince Sh. Mohammed Hamad Mohammed Al Khalifa.
Tags: #mountainclimbing, #MountEverest, #worldrecords