This Guy Just Climbed Everest in Under 10 Hours

An American runner just carved an hour off the clock on the world's tallest mountain. Tyler Andrews, 36, reached the summit of Mount Everest in 9 hours and 55 minutes on Thursday while using bottled oxygen, according to his expedition team, topping the previous confirmed best of 10 hours and 56 minutes set by Nepal's Lhakpa Gelu Sherpa in 2003. CBS News notes that Nepal's mountaineering authorities still have to certify the time, which was tracked via GPS and shared on Andrews' social media. His team says he climbed solo, with guides supplying oxygen, food, and water along the way.

Andrews, a cancer survivor from Concord, Massachusetts, had earlier in May had to abandon an attempt to break the no-oxygen speed record. "Let's finish 'er up!" he wrote Friday on Instagram, shortly before he started his second seasonal attempt. He told CBS Boston last month that Everest represented "the pinnacle" of a progression from high school cross-country to mountain racing.

Andrews is using his feat to raise money for under-resourced young athletes in Ecuador and Nepal. His run comes in a packed season: More than 950 people have summited so far, with five deaths. Veteran Nepali climber Kami Rita Sherpa—fresh off his own record-breaking 32nd Everest ascent—has urged authorities to rein in the growing crowds. Explorersweb, meanwhile, has more on the debate on using oxygen (or not) during an Everest climb.