Sherpas to brave -40C in bid for Everest winter climb record

Four Sherpa climbers today set out to complete the fastest-ever winter ascent of Mount Everest, braving temperatures as low as -40C in the peak’s so-called “death zone”.

The team, led by 34-year-old Tashi Lakpa Sherpa, are aiming to reach the summit in five days from the Nepali side.

If successful, they will be the first to climb the 29,035ft peak in 27 years during winter, when freezing cold and shorter daylight hours make climbing difficult.

“We know it is extremely risky and difficult during the winter, but we are very well acclimatised and prepared for this... ours is a strong team and we have confidence that we can do it,” the team leader told reporters before flying in a helicopter to a base camp on Everest.

Temperatures in the “death zone” above its South Col, given its name due to the thin air, can drop as low as -40C in winter. The last winter ascent of the mountain was in 1993, and many winter expeditions since have failed to reach the top.

Climbers usually spend several weeks on Everest acclimatising and preparing for summit bids, but compressing that into five days is very challenging and risky, said Shanta Bir Lama, head of the Nepal Mountaineering Association.

Last year was Everest’s deadliest since 2015, with 11 climbers, most of them Indian, being killed. Since Sir Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay first reached the summit in 1953, about 5,000 people have also reached the top, but more than 300 have died on its slopes.

Two teams from Germany and Spain are also now on Everest, officials said.