Hong Kong mountaineer on a high after fastest Everest climb by a woman

Tuesday, 1 June 2021 00:55 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

KATHMANDU (AFP): Former Hong Kong schoolteacher Tsang Yin-hung said on Sunday she always believed in aiming high after setting a new record for the fastest ascent of Everest by a woman.

Hong Kong mountaineer Tsang Yin-hung, who recorded the world’s fastest ascent of Mount Everest (8,848.86-metre) by a woman in 25 hours and 50 minutes, poses for pictures during an interview with AFP in Kathmandu on 30 May – AFP

Tsang scaled the 8,848.86-metre (29,031 feet) mountain in 25 hours and 50 minutes, a Nepal Government Officer who recorded her time told AFP on Thursday.

The 44-year-old reached the summit of the world’s highest peak on 23 May and arrived back in Kathmandu on Sunday.

“I am relaxed and happy because I set this target around four years before,” she told AFP.

“I have always shared with my students and my friends that if you aim high and expect high, you can achieve high.”

Tsang had tried to reach the summit earlier in May but was stopped by poor weather conditions when she was at 8,755 metres, her guide Pemba Sherpa said.

She had to return to base camp and climb up the mountain again to make her record attempt.

Tsang was born in mainland China and her family moved to Hong Kong when she was 10 years old.

She started to train as a mountaineer 11 years ago and summited Everest in 2017 – the first woman from Hong Kong to achieve such a feat.

In 2018, Nepali climber Phunjo Jhangmu Lama set the fastest ascent of Everest for a woman with a time of 39 hours and six minutes.

Tsang’s achievement came after Nepal issued a record 408 Everest permits for this climbing season, after last year’s was cancelled due to the pandemic.