Published April 15, 2026 02:09PM<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
I recently met Norwegian climber Kristin Harila in the empty restaurant of Kathmandu\u2019s Aloft Hotel, which is the bustling epicenter of the Mount Everest climbing scene. In 2022, I watched Harila enter the hotel lobby to the cheers of fans during her first attempt at setting the speed record for climbing the 14 peaks above 8,000 meters\u2014a goal\u00a0she accomplished in 2023. Over the years, I\u2019ve frequently seen fans approach Harila for photos and autographs in the hotel during the height of her popularity.<\/p>\n
But when I met with her this year, the hotel was unexpectedly quiet, and the Harila fans were nowhere to be seen.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wish that people didn\u2019t recognize me,\u201d Harila, who is 40, told Outside<\/em>. \u201cPeople are mostly very nice. But I think with everything that happened in the media and social media, it affected my life in a negative way.\u201d<\/p>\n Harila is among the most recognizable figures in modern mountaineering, thanks to her record-breaking ascent of all 14 peaks above 8,000 meters in just 92 days. Her celebrity status also brought critics on social media, who attacked her for climbing with supplemental oxygen, perpetuating a culture of speed climbing on the peaks, and continuing on to the summit of K2 while a porter was dying lower on the peak.<\/p>\n Harila\u2019s fame was also driven in part by tragedy. Her climbing partner, Tenjin \u201cLama\u201d Sherpa, died a few months after completing the record when he was buried by an avalanche on Shishapangma in Tibet. Since then, Harila has hoped to find his remains on the mountain and has taken an active role in his children\u2019 s education. When I met Harila at the Aloft in 2025, she was preparing for her second trip to Shishapangma to look for Tenjin Lama.<\/p>\n This year Harila is back in Nepal for a different reason: she is planning an audacious ascent of Mount Everest. The expedition, Harila told me, is her way of bidding farewell to the world\u2019s highest peak. Because after this year, she does not plan to return.<\/p>\n \u201cI will still continue to be active in the mountains,\u201d Harila told me. \u201cBut in a different way.\u201d<\/p>\n Harila\u2019s \u201cdifferent way\u201d still involves an objective most climbers would consider extreme. For 2026, Harila has set her sights on the so-called Mount Everest Triple Crown: climbing Everest, 27,940-foot Lhotse, and 25,791-foot Nuptse in a single season. Only four people in history have completed the feat, and no woman has done it.<\/p>\n Harila also hopes to climb all three without supplemental oxygen. Critics have pointed out that, despite her 8,000 meter record, Harila has little experience climbing at extreme altitude without supplemental oxygen. Harila, however, noted that her light-and-fast approach when setting the record often left her climbing without it.<\/p>\n \u201cThe media still continues to write that I used oxygen on all the mountains,\u201d she said. \u201cBut we climbed without it on Gasherbrum I. We did many of the other 8,000 meter peaks with only one bottle each.\u201d<\/p>\n The most difficult of the Everest Triple Crown is also the shortest. Reaching the summit of Nuptse, at 25,791 feet, requires technical climbing along dangerous and exposed ridges. Many climbers stop at the lower summit because reaching the true top requires a climber to straddle a steep, corniced ridge, and inch their way across.<\/p>\n According to the Himalayan Database, a website that chronicles ascents in Nepal, only 48 climbers have stood on Nuptse\u2019s true summit, compared with the nearly 850 people who climbed Everest last year alone. According to the Himalayan Database, only two women have ever reached the summit.<\/p>\n After failing to secure a Chinese visa to search for Lama, Harila spent the 2025 spring season on Mount Everest preparing for this climb. Even though she didn\u2019t summit, she spent stretches at higher camps without oxygen. If anything, this experience demonstrated to her how the extreme height of Everest introduces a major element of uncertainty.<\/p>\n \u201cBut going on Everest is a massive difference,\u201d she said. \u201cYou have to be lucky on a lot of things.\u201d<\/p>\n Harila\u2019s return to Everest this year marks her sixth season traveling to the Himalayas for an expedition. But the rhythm that once energized her has started to feel heavier.<\/p>\n \u201cOne part of me loves to climb mountains,\u201d she said. \u201cBut when I left home this time, I was like, \u2018Am I really leaving for another two-month expedition again?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n The decision to step away from mountaineering stems from Harila\u2019s desire for a life outside of climbing. She told me she wants to spend more time at home in Norway. She wants to start a family. Eventually, she\u2019d like to start a different career.<\/p>\n \u201cGoing on long expeditions two or three times a year, I don\u2019t see that continuing forever,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Harila operates a nonprofit foundation named after Tenjin Lama. She also financially supports Tenjin\u2019s sons, who are teenagers and hope to attend college in Norway.<\/p>\n Harila said that she started to think about a life after climbing when Tenjin Lama died. The loss forced her to confront the fragility of life in a way she had not before.<\/p>\n \u201cI think this is what happened to me after Lama died,\u201d she said. \u201cI came to this conclusion that we are all going to die someday, and we don\u2019t know how long we are going to be here. It\u2019s not like I don\u2019t have any goals. I do\u2014for this expedition and for the future. But I think with everything that happened I just want to enjoy every day and a good cup of coffee and just the small things in life.\u201d<\/p>\n Throughout our conversation Harila returned to the idea that her relationship with climbing, and herself, has shifted. The outcome of this season, she said, matters less to her than it once did. She\u2019s now climbed 8,000-meter peaks on 29 separate occasions.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s ok if this is the last time,\u201d she said.<\/p>\nThe Mount Everest Triple Crown<\/h2>\n
![\"Kristin](\"https:\/\/cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Harila3-scaled.jpeg?width=3840&auto=webp&quality=75&fit=cover\"\/)
A Return to the Himalayas to Say Goodbye<\/h2>\n
![\"Harila](\"https:\/\/cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Harila33.jpg?width=3840&auto=webp&quality=75&fit=cover\"\/)
Saying Goodbye to Mount Everest<\/h2>\n
![\"Everest](\"https:\/\/cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/GettyImages-1408840685.jpg?width=2048&auto=webp&quality=75&fit=cover\"\/)
![\"Kristin](\"https:\/\/cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Harila3.jpg?width=3840&auto=webp&quality=75&fit=cover\"\/)