Ukrainian Mountaineer Sets Record by Conquering Two Eight-Thousanders — Everest and Lhotse — in a Day
Ukrainian mountaineer Tonya Samoylova set a record by conquering two challenging eight-thousanders — Everest and Lhotse — within a day. She also became the first woman in the history of Ukrainian mountaineering to summit Everest three times. Tonya Samoylova shared her expedition on Instagram.
"I completed the Everest-Lhotse traverse, climbing two eight-thousanders in a row. I fulfilled my dream! At dawn on May 22, I stood on the summit of Everest, and by six in the morning the next day, I was looking at it from the summit of another eight-thousander, Lhotse! And once again, I had the joy of raising the flag of the best country to the highest heights!" wrote the Ukrainian mountaineer.
At the beginning of the expedition, Tonya felt the first symptoms of COVID-19 and had to return to Kathmandu for treatment. After recovering, she set out from Camp Three at four in the morning on May 21 to make the historic climb. On May 22, she raised the Ukrainian flag on the summit of Everest with the inscription "Still fighting for freedom," reminding the world of the Ukrainian struggle for freedom.
"I had a strong fear that after the illness, I wouldn't be physically able to climb two eight-thousanders in a row and that my expedition would fail due to my health condition," the mountaineer shared.
After summiting Everest on the night of May 23, Tonya began her preparation for Lhotse and reached its summit by six in the morning. She returned to the base camp on the same day, having been awake for a total of 65 hours.
Tonya dedicated her climb to the fallen soldier Oleksandr Hryanyk, who had always dreamed of summiting Everest. She took his photograph to the top of the world and captured the moment to immortalize it.
As a reminder, The Gaze previously reported that the Supreme Court of Nepal issued a directive requiring the country's government to reduce the number of permits for climbing Everest and other Himalayan peaks. This decision was made ahead of the spring climbing season on Everest.
The court's ruling emphasized the need to "respect the carrying capacity of the mountains," which requires determining a maximum limit of climbing permits. However, the court did not specify the exact number of permits, leaving it to the Nepalese government to decide after conducting studies on the tourist load on Everest and other Himalayan peaks.