KATHMANDU, Nepal – Mount Everest, the world’s highest peak, made history this week when 274 climbers successfully reached its summit in a single 24-hour window, shattering the previous single-day record for ascents via Nepal’s popular southern route, Nepalese expedition officials confirmed Thursday.
The unprecedented wave of summits came as climbers seized a rare window of stable, clear weather on Wednesday, according to Rishi Ram Bhandari, a representative of the Expedition Operators Association Nepal. Bhandari confirmed that the 274 successful ascents mark the highest single-day total ever recorded on the southern face, the most heavily trafficked route to the 8,850-meter peak’s top.
Everest can be attempted from two sides: the southern approach in Nepal, and the northern route through China’s Tibet Autonomous Region. For context, the previous single-day record on Nepal’s side stood at 223 ascents, set on May 22, 2019, when 113 additional climbers also summited from the northern side that same day. This year, however, Chinese authorities have kept the northern route closed to expeditions, concentrating all summit attempts on the Nepalese side.
The 274-ascend milestone is just one of multiple record-breaking feats unfolding during this year’s climbing season. Earlier this week, veteran Nepalese mountain guide Kami Rita Sherpa reached the summit for the 32nd time, extending his own world record for the most Everest summits by any climber. Not far behind, his closest rival Pasang Dawa Sherpa notched his 30th successful ascent of the peak this same week. For female climbers, Lakpa Sherpa also made history, scaling Everest for the 11th time to break her own existing record for the most summits by a woman.
This year’s climbing season got off to a delayed start, after safety officials flagged risks from a massive unstable serac—an ice block formation—hanging directly over the Khumbu Icefall, the critical lower passage required to reach upper routes to the summit. Expedition teams had to wait for additional route assessments and safety modifications before beginning their final summit pushes. As of this week, roughly 494 foreign climbers, accompanied by an equal number of experienced Sherpa guides, are expected to attempt a summit push before the season concludes at the end of May, when shifting weather patterns make the peak too dangerous to climb.
Wednesday’s record-setting day comes nearly 71 years after the first confirmed successful ascent of Everest, when New Zealand mountaineer Edmund Hillary and Sherpa guide Tenzing Norgay reached the summit on May 29, 1953. Since that groundbreaking expedition, thousands of climbers from across the globe have followed in their footsteps to conquer the world’s highest peak.