Kristin Harila, a Norwegian mountaineer, is the fastest person in the world to climb 14 peaks. She beat Nirmal Purja and climbed 14 peaks above 8000 meters in just three months and one day under her latest project “She Moves Mountain“.

Nepalese Climber Tenjin (Lama) Sherpa also shared the world record for climbing 14 peaks with Kristin Harila. As the previous record by Nims was 6 months and 7 days, the duo (Kristin and Tenjin) now became the world’s fastest people to climb the 14 highest peaks.

As part of her “She Moves Mountain” project, Kristin climbed 14 eight-thousanders, including K2 and Everest.

“There are many reasons why I do what I do. I feel the best in the mountains and at the very highest peaks. That’s what drives me” – Kristin Harila

In 2022, Kristin was on her way to achieving this incredible feat as she completed scaling 12 peaks out of 14 in Nepal and Pakistan in record time. Later, she could not finish her mission of scaling 14 peaks in less than 6 months due to permit issues for Shishapangma and Cho Oyo.

“I will still keep my project going. It’s important. Not just for me, but also for actually changing something with the gender difference that we still see in the world and especially in this sport.” Kristin Harila after her Bremont 14 Peaks attempt in 2022.

“She Moves Mountains” brought Harila back to the mountains in 2023.

This year, she started her adventure by climbing Shisapangma and Cho Oyo before attempting to climb the rest of the 12 mountains that she climbed last year.

“On almost all the peaks, there are dead people. If that happens to me, I will have died happy.” – Kristin

“She Moves Mountains” is a new project, a new attempt at the 14 peaks,” Harila wrote on her Instagram after scaling Shishapangma on April 26, 2023.

On July 27, 2023, Kristin Harila became the fastest person to complete the ascents of 14 peaks above 8000 meters. She achieved this incredible feat in just 92 days. Her previous record timing on 14 peaks was one year and five days.

Before Kristin, Nims held the previous record in the men’s category and a Chinese climber called Dong Hong Juan in the women’s category.

As a part of climbing 14 peaks, Kristin Harila also completed the climb of Mt. Everest and Lhotse in just 8 hours in 2023, beating her previous record of 8.5 hours in 2022.

Kristin Harila’s 14 Peak Climbing Project Update for 2023

After her previous setback in 2022, Kristin was re-attempting to complete ascents of 14 peaks over 8000 m in less than 6 months.

Below are the exact dates and summit times of every 14 peaks above 8000 meters by Kristin Harila in 2023. She climbed 14 mountains out of 14 on the list by July 27, 2023, starting on April 26.

1. K2 (8,611 meters/ 28,251 ft.) – Date of Summit: 27 July 2023, approx 10:45 am
2. Broad Peak (8,051 meters/ 26,414 ft.) – Date of Summit: 23 July 2023, approx 04:30 am
3. Gasherbrum I (8,080 Meters/ 26,510 ft.) – Date of Summit: 18 July 2023, approx 5:10 am
4. Gasherbrum II (8,035 Meters/ 26,362 ft.) – Date of Summit: 15 July 2023, approx 7:45 am
5. Nanga Parbat (8,125 meters/ 26,656 ft.) – Date of Summit: 26 June 2023, approx 07:00 am
6. Manaslu (8,163 meters/26,781 ft.) – Date of Summit: 10 June 2023, approx 3:30 am
7. Annapurna (8,091 meters/26,545 ft,) – Date of Summit: 5 June, approx 06:00 am
8. Dhaulagiri (8,167 meters/26,795 ft.) – Date of Summit: 29 May, approx. 6:15 am
9. Lhotse (8,516 meters/27,940 ft.) – Date of Summit: 23 May, approx 11:15 am
10. Mount Everest (8,848.86 meters/29,029 ft) – Date of Summit: 23 May 2023, approx 3:15 am
11. Kanchenjunga (8,586 meters/28,169 ft,) – Date of the Summit: 18 May 2023, approx 12:45 pm
12. Makalu (8,485 meters/27,837 ft.) – Date of the summit: 13 May 2023, approx. 8:35 am
13. Cho Oyu (8,818 meters/26,906 ft.) – Date of the summit: 3rd May 2023, approx. 2:45 pm
14. Shishapangma (8,027 meters/26,335 ft.) – Date of the summit: 26th April 2023, approx. 5 pm

Kristin Harila’s Bremont 14 Peaks Project Setback in 2022

In 2022, Kristin Harila climbed 12 peaks above 8000 m after April under her project “Bremont 14 peaks”.

“In 2019, Nims set a world record by completing the ascend of 14 peaks in just 6 months and 7 days. The previous record was 7 years. Now I will show that a girl can do the same.” Harila wrote on her GoFundMe page.

Kristin’s 8000+ meter summits in 2022 included the following:

1. Manaslu – 22nd September 2022
2. Gasherbrum I – 11th August 2022
3. Gasherbrum II- 8th August 2022
4. Broad Peak – 28th July 2022
5. Mount K2 – 22nd July 2022
6. Nanga Parbat- 1st July 2022
7. Makalu- 27th May 2022
8. Lhotse- 22nd May 2022
9. Mt. Everest- 22nd May 2022
10. Kanchenjunga- 14th May 2022
11. Dhaulagiri I – 8th May 2022
12. Annapurna I – 28th April 2022

According to Explorersweb, Kristin Harila climbed the last 6 world’s highest peaks in just 29 days, 2 days quicker than the record of Nirmal Purja.

Also, she climbed Mount Everest and Lhotse in a single push. Likewise, she hiked to Makalu topless over a week after completing the Everest and Lhotse climbs.

“Of course, not an easy mountain, with much rock and ice, falls around us, especially from Camp 4 to the summit and back without ropes,” Harila said in an Instagram post after completing the Nanga Parbat climb.

“Dangerous mountain? Yes, it is. More technical than anything we have done, and so much warmer than climbing in Nepal!”

Kristin Harila couldn’t climb Cho Oyo and Shisapangama in 2022 because she couldn’t get a visa and permit from Tibet, China.

Previous Summits and Expeditions of Kristin Harila

Here are Kristin’s record climbs and expeditions before a mission to become the fastest person to climb all 14 Peaks.

2015

• Kilimanjaro, Afrika (5,895 meters)

2019

• Lobuche East, Nepal (6,119 meters)
• Dhaulagiri VII (Putha Hiunchuli), Nepal (7,246 meters)

2020

• Aconcagua, Argentina- (6,961 meters)
• Co Adolfo Calle, Argentina (4,270 meters)
• Pico Vallecitos, Argentina (5,370 meters)
• Finnmarksvidda by ski alone, 500 km from Alta, by Kautokeino to Vadsø – 18 days.

2021

• Guided Finnmarksvidda by ski.
• Mount Everest, Nepal. 8848.86 meters (Seven Summits)
• Lhotse, Nepal (8516 meters)
• Island Peak, Nepal (6189 meters)
• Ama Dablam, Nepal (6812 meters)

Kristin has climbed over 100 mountains in Norway and abroad.

Kristin Harila and Nims Purja’s record battle

The first serious challenger to the record of 14 peaks climbed in 6 months and 7 days by Nims Dai (real name: Nirmal Purja) was Kristin Harila. Kim Chang-Ho, a South Korean climber, had previously completed the same attempt in seven years and 310 days.

After scaling K2 in 2023, Kristin Harila also completed the ascent of 14 peaks, like Nims Dai did it previously. She finished it in 3 months and 1 day, beating Nims and becoming the fastest person to climb 14 peaks. Along with her Tenjin (Lama), Sherpa also shared the record.

In the men’s category, Tenjin (Lama) Sherpa is the fastest mountaineer to climb 14 peaks, whereas, in the women’s category, it is Kristin Harila.

The climb to the 14 peaks requires firm determination. Climbers use helicopters to move between mountain base camps. If taken to Mount Everest Summit, the Everest Base Camp Trek takes more than a week, but helicopters can get you to and from base camp in about an hour. So, the climbers use high-altitude helicopters to move between base camps. They also use supplemental oxygen to speed up the ascent.

Kristin Harila was in the same boat. She used a helicopter to move between base camps and added supplemental oxygen, like Purja. But in her recent project in 2023, “She Moves Mountains,” she initially planned to scale the mountain summits without supplementary oxygen. But later, she had to use oxygen cylinders because of safety issues.

Climbing 14 peaks requires a sizeable budget. So, like Nims Dai, Kristin had a GoFundMe page and sponsors to help with the finances. Also, she was very determined and always pushed herself to achieve her maximum potential. Nims Dai also donated to Kristin’s climbing journey and asked everyone to support her via his Instagram story.

When Purja challenged himself to complete the ascent of 14 peaks in 2019, he did it before COVID hit the Asian countries. But Kristin Harila’s first attempt on 14 peaks was after COVID. Thus, she couldn’t complete it in 2022 due to travel restrictions worldwide.

Despite the worldwide restrictions, Kristin did scale 12 peaks in record time in 2022 but couldn’t climb Cho Oyo and Shisapangama due to permit and visa issues.

“In times of adversity, one has to find inner strength, which is why I am letting you all know that I am coming back, and I WILL complete this record next year!” says Kristin.

 

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A post shared by Kristin Harila (@kristin.harila)

Nims 14 Peaks Records advertised adventure tours in Nepal to a mass number of people around the world. Kristin’s record is expected to boost tourist flow on every Mount Everest trail. This is a good sign for Nepal.

Kristin Harila’s Biography: Family and Personal Life

Born on March 28, 1986, in Norway, Kristin Jonassen Harila grew up on a farm in Vadsø. She started driving a tractor when she was 11 years old. At 16 years old, she moved to Lillehammer to focus on cross-country skiing.

As a skier, she holds 44th and 46th places in two Norwegian Championships from her club, IL Polarstjernen.

Her father, John Petter Harila, is also a touch athlete and a skier.

In the spring of 2019, Kristin left a senior management job in Skeidar to follow her dream. And, by 2021, she had set a world record in mountaineering.

According to Kristin Harila, “An adventurer is someone who follows his dreams. Who dares to try? It can accommodate a lot and be very different for everyone. For me, it is also someone who does not give up at first.”

Acquisitions

Kristin Harila was accused of leaving a guide to die in the K2 bottleneck while she and her team scaled the summit. According to a video by Austrian climbers, Wilhelm Steindl and Philip Flämig, Kristin and her team are shown stepping over the body of Mohammed Hassan, who was critically injured.

Later, Kristin responded to the accusations by saying they spent hours helping Hassan before moving ahead to the summit. Hassan died the next day after Kristin’s summit record.

At 8000 m+, your survival instincts determine your actions, as Kristin Harila explains. This occurrence took place in the world’s deadliest mountain’s most hazardous part.

Despite Kristin’s detailed account of the K2 incident, some climbers still think she and her team could have saved Hassan from dying.

Retirement Plans

After breaking the record of being the fastest person to climb the 14 highest peaks in the world, Kristin announced that K2 might be her last 8000-meter mountain.

I don’t think I will try any eight-thousand meters for a while,” Harila said. “I have done 28 eight-thousanders in total, so I think I have done my part.”

Harila said that K2 was the last on the list and the most difficult as well. After this, she doesn’t want to try another 8000 m+ peak soon.

“I am going to run in the mountains and have already signed up for a race,” she said of her immediate plans.

Kristin has now become a national figure in Norway, like the great polar explorer Borge Ousland. She has motivational speaking gigs and university lectures every time and often. She is also writing a book about her experiences in the Himalayas.

Harila is also looking for a media partner to sell her documentary about climbing 14 peaks like another great mountainer, Nirmal Purja. She also mentioned that she wants to start a family and spend her family time.