American ultrarunner Tyler Andrews has set a bold goal for 2025: ascend Mount Everest without the use of supplemental oxygen faster than anyone in history. Andrews, 34, who has set speed records on 26,781-foot Manaslu and 22,837-foot Aconcagua, told Outside that he’s going to attempt the Fastest Known Time (FKT) for ascending Everest via the South Col route this May.
“In mountaineering, it’s almost like Everest has gotten a bad reputation—too crowded, too commercial, people doing it for the wrong reasons,” Andrews told Outside. “But when it comes to mountain running records, it represents the ultimate progression.”
In May, Andrews will depart Nepal’s Everest Base Camp and ascend the Khumbu Icefall, the Western Cwm, Lhotse Face, past the South Col and on to the 29,032-foot summit. The total distance is 9.3 miles, with an elevation gain of 11,434 feet.
There are several speed records on Everest. The Guinness Book of World Records recognizes Lhakpa Gelu Sherpa’s 2003 ascent of Everest as the fastest at 10 hours, 56 minutes, 46 seconds. Lhakpa Gelu ascended the peak with supplemental oxygen. In 1998 Kaji Sherpa ascended the peak from Base Camp in 20 hours and 24 minutes, without the use of oxygen. In 2017, Catalan ultrarunner Kilian Jornet set a speed record of 26 hours for ascending the peak in true alpine style, without using oxygen or fixed ropes.
Andrews said he is targeting Kaji Sherpa’s record.
The tradeoff of going in May—and following the main route used by commercial climbing parties—is that Andrews will have to potentially deal with traffic jams. Climbers form bottlenecks on the Nepal side. Andrews said he expects crowding on the peak in 2025.
“When the previous record was set, there were definitely fewer people on the mountain,” Andrews said. “But there weren’t any of those $10,000 espresso machines at Base Camp either, so there are pluses and minuses.”
Andrews said his primary strategy for his Everest FKT attempt is to try and avoid the masses. “The nice thing about Everest is that there’s a lot of groupthink, he said. “The big climbing companies send all their teams up in the same couple of days.”
He believes there’s wiggle room to start his climb before or after the biggest wave of climbers, even within a tight weather window, to make on-the-fly decisions that will help him avoid the route’s most notorious pinch points.
Andrews’ FKT attempt will be a solo ascent, backed by a significant support team on the mountain. “It takes a village,” he said. For logistics, including permitting, he’s working with Dawa Steven Sherpa, the CEO of Nepali guiding company Asian Trekking. The two worked together for Andrew’s FKT on Manaslu in September 2024. “He’s the critical piece behind the scenes,” Andrews told Outside.
On the lower sections of the route, Andrews will run with his good friend and climbing partner Chris Fisher. Fisher will also accompany Andrews through the Khumbu Icefall, considered one of the most dangerous sections of the South Col route. “He’s my support person and my pacer,” said Andrews.
Above the Khumbu Icefall, Andrews does not plan to spend a night at higher camps, but he will stash food, water, and gear in strategic locations along the route.
Andrews told Outside that the peak’s upper-most section, from Camp 4 to the summit, will be the key to his attempt. “The last 800 meters could take me four hours or it could take me 12 hours,” Andrews said. “That will likely make or break the route.”
In preparation for the climb, Andrews has been using a hypoxic generator at home to simulate the effects of extreme altitude while training.
For clothing, Andrews is planning both a “warm weather” and “cold weather” kit. “I think the most important thing will be layering and having a setup where I can move comfortably and never get too hot or too cold,” he said. Andrews worked with sponsor La Sportiva on a modular system to easily add and subtract layers as temperatures shift. The small, custom backpack he’ll use to carry the essentials was made in the USA by FSP Outdoors.
He hopes that his attempt will inspire people to do hard things. “Whether that’s climbing a mountain, running a marathon, starting a business, asking out the girl at the coffee shop, whatever that is, I hope that what I’m doing can inspire a handful of people to do something hard, because it’s tremendously rewarding and fulfilling,” Andrews said
He also hopes that it will encourage other high-level mountain athletes to come to the Himalayas to try to break speed records. “I think that’s what’s exciting about sport,” said Andrews, “the continued competition across generations.”
As for risk, Andrews recognizes the life-or-death stakes. but he doesn’t think that speed records lure climbers into taking unnecessary risks. “People who are realistically in a position to attempt something like a speed record on an 8000-meter peak understand there will always be risk and danger when you’re competing in the mountains,” he said. “It’s always something that you have to weigh carefully.”
Before he became a high-altitude mountain runner, Andrews was a two-time Olympic Trials qualifier for the marathon (in 2016 and 2020), and a world champion ultrarunner. He splits his time between Flagstaff, Arizona, and Quito, Ecuador, where he trains extensively at 16,000 feet and above.
His first major mountain speed record was in 2021 on 19,347-foot Cotopaxi , Ecuador’s second highest summit, in 1:36:35. Andrews has since set FKTs on 19,340-foot Kilimanjaro, Africa’s tallest mountain, in 6:37:57, and Argentina’s 22,838-foot Aconcagua, the highest peak outside of Asia, in 11:24:46.
Andrews’ perhaps greatest accomplishment yet came when he set a new FKT on Manaslu in 2024. It was his first record on one of the world’s 8000ers—the 14 peaks that stand at 8,000 metres (26,247 feet) and above.
“That was the moment when running Everest became real for me,” Andrews said.
The post Tyler Andrews to Attempt Everest Speed Record appeared first on Outside Online.
