Cancer survivor US climber smashes Everest speed record with sub-10-hour summit

American endurance athlete and mountaineer Tyler Andrews, a 36-year-old cancer survivor, became the first non-Sherpa climber to hold Mount Everest’s South Base Camp speed record after climbing from Nepal’s 5,364m Base Camp to the 8,848.86m summit in 9 hrs 55 mins on Thursday, completing the ascent after four failed attempts across two climbing seasons — the last less than a week ago. Andrews broke the 23-year-old benchmark of 10 hrs 56 mins set by Nepali climber Lhakpa Gelu Sherpa in 2003, a record that endured through two decades of increasingly commercialised Everest expeditions.

At the age of six, Andrews was diagnosed with aplastic anaemia, a cancer that prevents the body from producing enough blood cells, and underwent several rounds of chemotherapy before recovering. In recent years, he established speed records on Manaslu and Ama Dablam in Nepal, Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, Aconcagua in Argentina, Ojos del Salado in Chile and Cotopaxi in Ecuador.

Andrews began the climb at 7.11pm on Wednesday, just as darkness settled over Khumbu Icefall, and stood on the summit at 5.06am on Thursday after a continuous overnight ascent through Khumbu Icefall, the Western Cwm, Lhotse Face and the ‘death zone’ above South Col — covering 14km and a vertical gain of 3,500m. Most climbers move slowly over four to seven days after spending weeks acclimatising between camps.

Though the record still requires formal verification from Nepal’s mountain authorities, Andrews’ team broadcast live GPS tracking of the climb through his social media account. “He reached Everest’s peak in just 9 hours 55 minutes,” his expedition leader Dawa Steven Sherpa of Asian Trekking said shortly after the summit.

Himal Gautam, an official with Nepal’s department of tourism, which ratifies climbing records set on Everest, told TOI, “Andrews and his expedition leader will brief tourism officials once they are in Kathmandu. His ascent will be verified through GPS logs, summit photographs and statements from expedition staff and Sherpa guides before the record is formally recognised.”

Tyler’s feat was the culmination of a two-year pursuit repeatedly interrupted by setbacks. Thursday’s ascent was Andrews’ fifth serious attempt at the record across two Everest seasons and his second within days. Earlier efforts unravelled because of unstable weather, avalanche danger, oxygen shortages and gear failures at extreme altitude. During one attempt last year, a boot malfunction near Camp III forced him to descend because of frostbite risk.

His most dramatic setback came last week. Tyler originally intended to target the unsupported, oxygen-free speed record, but high winds and severe altitude-related complications forced him to abandon the climb and descend after using emergency bottled oxygen. He was later evacuated by helicopter from Camp II.

He acknowledged that Everest’s unpredictability weighed on him more heavily than the physical challenge itself. “The thing I’m most stressed out about is that some weird little thing that has nothing to do with my fitness is gonna screw me up,” he had written on his Instagram page. He returned to Base Camp, recovered for several days and decided to make one final attempt, this time with oxygen support.

Andrews’ attempt combined solo climbing with a coordinated support system. While he climbed alone on the route, Sherpa guides were posted ahead of him with oxygen cylinders, food and water. Andrews also delayed using supplementary oxygen until Camp II, at around 6,750m, climbing the lower sections of the mountain without bottled support despite attempting the oxygen-assisted category.

Before Andrews’ climb, every holder of Everest’s speed record from the Nepal side was a Sherpa climber. Other endurance athletes, including Hans Kammerlander and Kilian Jornet, had achieved their speed records from North Base Camp on the Tibet side of the mountain.

Fastest to the top

• 9 hours, 55 minutes — Tyler Andrews (2026)
• 10 hours, 56 minutes — Lhakpa Gelu Sherpa (2003)
• 12 hours, 45 minutes — Pemba Dorje Sherpa (2003)
• 14 hours, 31 minutes — Phunjo Jhangmu Lama (2024) (Woman’s record)
• 16 hours, 56 minutes — Babu Chiri Sherpa (2000)
• 20 hours, 24 minutes — Kazi Sherpa (1998) (No oxygen-support record)

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