Spanish climber makes fastest ascent of Mount Everest

A SPANISH climber, Kilian Jornet is claiming a record for the fastest ascent of Mount Everest.

Alone, in a single climb and without oxygen or fixed ropes, Jornet reached the summit of the world’s tallest mountain which is 8,848 metres high from the base camp at 5,100 metres in what is believed to be the fastest ever time of 26 hours.

The climb wasn’t without its problems as “Up to 7,700m I felt really good and was making progress as planned but then I started to feel unwell, probably from stomach virus. From then on I made slow progress and had to keep stopping to recover. I finally reached the summit at midnight” the climber said.

He is now recovering at the 6,400 metre upper base camp whilst awaiting official confirmation that his achievement – part of an ongoing Summits of My Life project – has been accepted and ratified.