Piotr Krzyżowski sets Guinness World Record after climbing Lhotse and Everest in under 48 hours

Polish mountaineer Piotr Krzyżowski has officially entered the Guinness World Records after completing one of the most striking feats in modern Himalayan climbing: linking the summits of Lhotse (27,940 feet) and Mount Everest (29,032 feet) in less than 48 hours without supplemental oxygen.

The record, now certified by Guinness, was set at 1 day, 23 hours and 22 minutes, dramatically improving the previous mark and confirming the scale of a climb that had already generated major attention in the mountaineering community when it took place in May 2024.

Stunning record on Lhotse and Mount Everest

Krzyżowski reached the summit of Lhotse on May 21 at 2:38 p.m. What initially began as his main objective, a solo ascent without oxygen of the world’s fourth-highest mountain, quickly evolved into something more ambitious. Instead of descending to base camp, he dropped only as far as the South Col (Camp 4) and prepared there for his next move.

After a brief rest, he began the final push toward Everest in the early hours of the morning. On May 23 at 2:00 p.m., he reached the summit of the world’s highest peak, completing an extremely fast double ascent in a lightweight alpine style.

“I don’t climb for records,” Krzyżowski said after the certification was confirmed. “Climbing Lhotse and Everest in a single summit push, without descending below Camp 4, was simply one of my dreams as a mountaineer.”

What sets his achievement apart from other speed records in the Himalayas is the style in which it was done. The Polish climber completed both ascents without bottled oxygen, without Sherpa support, and without descending to base camp between the two mountains, an approach that greatly increases both the physical and logistical difficulty.

The previous record belonged to Chilean climber Juan Pablo Mohr Prieto, who in 2019 linked Lhotse and Everest in 6 days and 20 hours, also without oxygen, although he descended to Camp 2 between the two climbs.

Krzyżowski, 45, from the Beskid Mountains in southern Poland, combines his career as a lawyer with volunteer work for GOPR. His progression in Himalayan climbing has been steady. He debuted on an 8,000-meter peak with Gasherbrum II in 2021 and has since expanded his résumé to 10 summits above 8,000 meters, including recent ascents of Makalu, Manaslu, and Dhaulagiri.

With the official Guinness certification, his Lhotse–Everest double summit is now recorded as one of the fastest and purest ascents ever completed in the Himalayas.

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