Published on June 25, 2026 05:19 am
At 4 a.m. on May 28, 36-year-old American athlete Tyler Andrews reached the south summit of Mount Everest for the first time in his life. His goal, the main peak, was only a few hundred feet above him. It was his seventh attempt in two years to set a speed record on the mountain – and it would not be his last.
“I could see the top,” he said Outside. “He was right there. I could have thrown rocks at him.”
Still he was not ready to celebrate. Before the day was out, on his eighth attempt, he succeeded in climbing from base camp to the summit in just 9 hours and 55 minutes – the fastest ascent ever recorded on that route.
“For every other attempt, I felt absolutely fit, absolutely prepared, and something always went wrong,” he said. “I was just waiting for the other shoe to drop.”
The concern was understandable. Over two years, Andrews had devoted himself full-time to the project and invested well over six figures of his own money in three Everest expeditions, yet had little to show for it. Their goal was one of the most elusive prizes in high-altitude mountaineering: the fastest known time from Everest base camp to the summit without supplemental oxygen.
Andrews was trying to break the record of 20 hours and 24 minutes set by Kazi Sherpa in 1998, which remains unbroken almost three decades later.
For his final climb, Andrews chose a different option than previous attempts. Taking supplemental oxygen at Camp II, he reached the summit in 9 hours and 55 minutes, breaking the overall climbing record set by Lhakpa Gelu Sherpa in 2003 by more than an hour.
But the closest Andrews came to the no-oxygen record was arguably his first attempt.
Wardrobe malfunction at 24,000 feet
During his first attempt on May 10, 2025, Andrews reached Camp III, located at an altitude of 24,000 feet, in just 4 hours and 32 minutes, well ahead of the record pace. Due to unusually hot conditions, he reached there wearing shoes with microspikes. But when he stopped to change into high-altitude mountaineering boots, the zipper on the integrated gaiter failed in the cold, leaving his foot exposed to the elements and increasing the risk of frostbite. He made improvements to the repairs and tried to continue, but it was not enough.
As the spring 2025 season progressed, Andrews scored two more tries, but was forced to withdraw due to inclement weather and exhaustion.
He returned that autumn, hoping that a concurrent Red Bull ski expedition would leave the route open but relatively free of the crowds that often slow down climbers on Everest’s fixed lines. Even after two attempts he remained empty handed as heavy snowfall had made the climb slow and dangerous.
“Everything is useless”
Both unsuccessful expeditions cost Andrews six months of training and preparation, but with new determination.
“I was very tired while coming back to Kathmandu after both the failed missions,” he said.. “The difference between record chasing and racing is that record chasing is binary. It’s like you do it or you don’t do it. Your life is great, or everything sucks.”
When he returned to Nepal in spring 2026, Andrews resumed his usual aggressive conditioning programme. He completed training intervals on 21,250-foot-high Mera Peak and 27,838-foot-high Makalu, then complemented that work with long sessions on an exercise bike while breathing through a hypoxic system set up to simulate an altitude of about 36,000 feet.
“I think I was probably the most acclimatized person on Earth,” he said. Outside. “I’m not trying to be cocky, but I was using the hypoxic generator at 11,000 meters every day on a (stationary) bicycle for the last month – that’s ten hours a week.”
His team attempted to set the record during the weather window at the end of the season, when they expected most climbers to be off the mountain.
But time was running out. The route through the Khumbu Icefall was due to close in a matter of days, and Andrews felt the pressure.
Conserving energy for the final climb of Everest
Despite forecasts of dangerous winds he began his sixth attempt at 8 pm on 23 May.
“I originally wanted to make two attempts and go without oxygen first, because that was harder to do and harder to recover from,” he said. “Camp II was the real decision point. When I got there, our two Sherpas at Camp IV said, ‘It’s very windy here. We don’t think anyone is going to summit with or without gas.’ So then I said, ‘Okay, turn on the gas.’ We will see how it goes.”
Andrews’ sixth bid ended at about 26,000 feet when deteriorating weather and logistics issues forced him to turn back. As he descended, he deliberately conserved energy, knowing he would likely have one last chance before the mountain closed.
“I knew they were going to close the mountain on the 29th, and now it’s the 24th. Now we only have three days, so every second counts. We know we have to go on the 28th because that’s the latest possible day we can go,” he said.
A controversial summit on Everest
For Andrews’ final attempt, there was no question: He was going to use oxygen.
“We had already determined that it was a gas attempt,” he said. “Honestly, it felt like this season and the way things went, there were a lot less variables out of my control than without Gase.”
The forecast also called for snow later on 28 May, increasing the risk of slow ascent without supplemental oxygen.
“I was and still am confident that I can make the gas-free record,” he said. “But the possibility that something is going to go wrong that day that will derail it – causing me to cry in the shower back in Kathmandu – is just not worth it.”
He added, “The no gas record was going to take at least 30 hours round trip, even in windy conditions.” “So we’re going to the summit in the afternoon in a snowstorm and then coming down in that blizzard when there’s no one on the mountain? The mountain is closing the next morning. It felt very tight for us from a safety standpoint.”
Andrews left Everest Base Camp for the seventh and final time at 7:11 pm on 27 May. He reached the top of the Khumbu Icefall in two hours and eight minutes, put on oxygen at Camp I, and ran up the western CWM to Camp II.
His team’s decision to wait paid off. The road was almost empty.
Just an hour after leaving Camp II, they passed Camp III. After another two hours he reached Camp IV. The final climb to the summit took about three hours as daylight broke over the mountain’s southeast ridge.
At 5:06 am on May 28, Andrews stood on the summit of Everest for the first time. In the process, he became the fastest person ever to climb the mountain from base camp to the summit, completing the climb in 9 hours and 55 minutes.
Despite good circumstances and years of effort, he did not stop.
“I was thinking about descending the entire climb. I knew I had got the climbing record. Even if I died on the way up, I thought, at least I have that.”
Their greatest concern was the return through the Khumbu Icefall during the heat of the day, when rising temperatures increase objective hazards.
“I’ve never enjoyed being in the snow,” he said. Outside. “But this year there was a lot of chaos. I booked it in an hour through snowfall on the way. Really stressful times.”
Andrews reached base camp at 11:44 am on 28 May and completed the round trip in 16 hours and 32 minutes, including about 25 minutes spent on the summit. The climber and his team celebrated the achievement publicly, but his decision to use supplemental oxygen sparked outrage among parts of the climbing community.
An uncharacteristic decision from Tyler Andrews
according to Himalaya DatabaseWhen? Lhakpa Gelu Sherpa Setting the previous speed record in 2003, he used only supplemental oxygen above Camp IV and relied on oxygen systems that provided much lower flow rates than modern equipment. Most professional climbers today use about 2.5 liters per minute to conserve supplies at altitude. Andrews said he began using oxygen at Camp I and climbed at a flow rate between four and six liters per minute during the climb.
He has no regrets on this decision.
He said, “I don’t regret my decision. At the end of the day, I pushed myself just as hard with oxygen as I would have without oxygen.” “I wanted to do something that I would be satisfied with and that I could be proud of. That’s just how I feel. I honestly couldn’t care less what anyone else thinks about what I did.”
When asked if he could return for a third season to pursue the no-oxygen record, his answer was definite.
I love Everest, but I’m definitely done going south. I will never go through a snowfall again. Period,” he said. “Even if Elon Musk wanted me to own them, I’m not doing it. It doesn’t matter how much he paid me.”
But Everest always faces north.
When I pointed this out, Andrews looked up with a tired smile. “It’s a definite ‘no’.”
