An Australian climber has made the fastest “sea-to-summit” ascent of Mount Everest, his expedition organiser said Friday, reaching the top in 50 days after he set off from India.
Oliver Foran, 27, began his journey in the beginning of April, hoping to break the current verified record of 67 days and raise funds for mental health.
Record-breaking journey to Everest
“He summited on May 20… He broke the record summiting Everest from sea to summit in 50 days,” Adriana Brownlee from expedition organiser AGA Adventures told AFP.
The previous record was held by South Korean climber Kim Chang-ho, who walked and then kayaked the Ganges river and cycled to Nepal before trekking up to the base camp in 2013.
“We have just summited Mount Everest… Just set a new sea-to-summit world record, 50 days, all for youth mental health and my mum,” Foran said in a video posted from the summit on his Instagram account Friday.
“We’ve just made history. I am so tired.”
Watch: Foran’s message from Everest
Gruelling route from India to Nepal
The Australian climber first cycled 1 150 kilometres (715 miles) from India’s Bay of Bengal coast to Nepal, trekking up to the base camp and eventually climbing up the icy 8 849-metre (29 032-foot) peak.
The sea-to-summit is a rare feat, first completed by another Australian, Tim Macartney-Snape, in 1990.
Macartney-Snape spent three months walking from sea level to Everest’s summit, and it was his documentary that motivated Foran.
Personal tragedy behind the challenge
In an interview with AFP last month, Foran said he was driven by “something bigger” than himself, recalling his teenage grief when his mother died of brain cancer.
The unresolved grief reached a breaking point seven years later, Foran said, but a call to a friend proved life-saving.
“I made the decision then that… if I ever got the opportunity to stop somebody else from getting to that point or to give them another way, I would,” he said.
Foran partnered with Australian organisation Youturn with a target to raise $200 000 to build a youth mental health support centre back home.
