A 25-year-old Nepalese Sherpa has set a new world record for the fastest ever ascent of Mount Everest.
Pemba Dorjie Sherpa went from base camp to the summit in 12 hours and 45 minutes.
It takes most climbers a number of days to make the same journey.
The Everest base camp awoke early on Friday morning to the sound of loud cheers.
News broke that Pemba Dorjie Sherpa had become the fastest man ever to climb the world's highest mountain.
He left base camp late yesterday afternoon and climbed through the night under a clear and starlit sky and in temperatures well below freezing.
He reached the summit 12 hours and 45 minutes later, taking more than four hours off the previous record time which was also held by a Sherpa.
Next attempt
It takes most climbers four days of brutally hard climbing to make the same journey, but Pemba Dorjie Sherpa may not hold the new record for long.
There is another Sherpa here at base camp who claims he can go even faster.
Lakba Gelu says he will be making his own speed summit attempt within the next week and he hopes to achieve a time of less than 12 hours.
On Thursday a 70-year-old Japanese man became the oldest person to climb Mount Everest.
Yuichiro Miura made it to the top of the world's highest peak a week before the 50th anniversary of the first ascent.
Mr Miura, his son and seven others reached the summit via the south-east ridge route taken by Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay in 1953.
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+25000 feet is the deathzone. No-one can live there for more than a few days.
After ascending 25k. To do a 13 hour dash over 4-5k is incredible, and now theres someone waiting to beat it....
A 70 year old??
95% of 40 year olds couldnt make it, they would die.
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Explorer sets new polar record
Explorer Pen Hadow has completed a record-breaking trek to the North Pole.
Mr Hadow, 41, has become the first person to travel solo and unsupported from northern Canada to the geographic North Pole.
He has earned the nickname "the human icebreaker" because he swims across holes in the ice sheet, pulling his buoyant sledge behind him.
His wife, Mary, celebrated at home in Princetown, on Dartmoor with their children, Wilf, four and Freya, one.
Mrs Hadow said: "It's absolutely extraordinary. I knew he was good, but I did not know he was the best in the world."
Mr Hadow set out from the northern tip of Canada, Ward Hunt Island, on 17 March, carrying a sledge weighing 330lb (148.5 kilos).
He defied temperatures of minus 45 Celsius and serious setbacks such as falling through ice up to his armpits that lost him a ski about two weeks ago.
At one stage he thought he had come across another expedition's tracks - then realised he had gone round in a circle.
During his trek he donned a waterproof suit and made a number of swims, including two "the width of the Thames" across gaps in the ice.
Two previous attempts on the record were thwarted by injuries and a lost ski.
As he finished his 477-mile journey, he said: "I've done it.
"The overwhelming feeling is of utter relief. But I am exhausted. Exhausted."
Mr Hadow told The Times newspaper: "I gave my father an undertaking shortly after he died in 1993 to make it to the North Pole solo and with no resupply, and to have completed that, after my third attempt, is everything to me.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/devon/3039213.stm
=============================================
Humans seem to be finding new limits faster than ever, and all the time.
When is the first 100 year old going to conquer everest?
It should be impossible for a 70 year old....
Pemba Dorjie Sherpa went from base camp to the summit in 12 hours and 45 minutes.
It takes most climbers a number of days to make the same journey.
The Everest base camp awoke early on Friday morning to the sound of loud cheers.
News broke that Pemba Dorjie Sherpa had become the fastest man ever to climb the world's highest mountain.
He left base camp late yesterday afternoon and climbed through the night under a clear and starlit sky and in temperatures well below freezing.
He reached the summit 12 hours and 45 minutes later, taking more than four hours off the previous record time which was also held by a Sherpa.
Next attempt
It takes most climbers four days of brutally hard climbing to make the same journey, but Pemba Dorjie Sherpa may not hold the new record for long.
There is another Sherpa here at base camp who claims he can go even faster.
Lakba Gelu says he will be making his own speed summit attempt within the next week and he hopes to achieve a time of less than 12 hours.
On Thursday a 70-year-old Japanese man became the oldest person to climb Mount Everest.
Yuichiro Miura made it to the top of the world's highest peak a week before the 50th anniversary of the first ascent.
Mr Miura, his son and seven others reached the summit via the south-east ridge route taken by Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay in 1953.
============================================
+25000 feet is the deathzone. No-one can live there for more than a few days.
After ascending 25k. To do a 13 hour dash over 4-5k is incredible, and now theres someone waiting to beat it....
A 70 year old??
95% of 40 year olds couldnt make it, they would die.
==============================================
Explorer sets new polar record
Explorer Pen Hadow has completed a record-breaking trek to the North Pole.
Mr Hadow, 41, has become the first person to travel solo and unsupported from northern Canada to the geographic North Pole.
He has earned the nickname "the human icebreaker" because he swims across holes in the ice sheet, pulling his buoyant sledge behind him.
His wife, Mary, celebrated at home in Princetown, on Dartmoor with their children, Wilf, four and Freya, one.
Mrs Hadow said: "It's absolutely extraordinary. I knew he was good, but I did not know he was the best in the world."
Mr Hadow set out from the northern tip of Canada, Ward Hunt Island, on 17 March, carrying a sledge weighing 330lb (148.5 kilos).
He defied temperatures of minus 45 Celsius and serious setbacks such as falling through ice up to his armpits that lost him a ski about two weeks ago.
At one stage he thought he had come across another expedition's tracks - then realised he had gone round in a circle.
During his trek he donned a waterproof suit and made a number of swims, including two "the width of the Thames" across gaps in the ice.
Two previous attempts on the record were thwarted by injuries and a lost ski.
As he finished his 477-mile journey, he said: "I've done it.
"The overwhelming feeling is of utter relief. But I am exhausted. Exhausted."
Mr Hadow told The Times newspaper: "I gave my father an undertaking shortly after he died in 1993 to make it to the North Pole solo and with no resupply, and to have completed that, after my third attempt, is everything to me.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/devon/3039213.stm
=============================================
Humans seem to be finding new limits faster than ever, and all the time.
When is the first 100 year old going to conquer everest?
It should be impossible for a 70 year old....
