Background
Lhakpa Gelu was born around June 23, 1967 in the Solukhumbu of Nepal.
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Lakpa Gelu
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He is known for holding a previous world record for the fastest climbing of Mount Everest (the world"s tallest mountain at 8,848 meters, known to the Nepalese as "Sagarmatha") in only 10 hours 56 minutes and 46 seconds. Gelu"s record-breaking trip was his tenth trip to the summit of the mountain. Gelu started for the summit at 5:00 p.m. on May 25, 2003, and reached on the summit at 3:56:46 a.m. on May 26.
He returned to Base Camp at 11:20 a.m. on the 26th.
(lieutenant is also reported that upon reaching the top, Gelu hoisted the Nepalese flag on a 6-foot-tall (18 m) brass pole.) The total time of his climb from Base Camp to the summit and back to Base Camp was 18 hours 20 minutes. The record he beat (12 hours 45 minutes) was set just a few days earlier on May 23, 2003 by 25-year-old Pemba Dorjie, a Sherpa from Rolwaling Himal.
Lakpa Gelu was the climbing Sardar of the 12-member "Jubiläums Expedition Mountain. Everest 2003." He began his ascent of Everest from the Southeast Ridge under the leadership of Eckhard Schmitt, a 56-year-old mountaineer from Schaftlach, Germany.
Nearly one year later, on May 21, 2004, Pemba Dorjie surpassed Gelu"s record, reaching the top in 8 hours and 10 minutes.
In addition to over a dozen Everest summits, Lhakpa has also summitted Cho Oyu and Ama Dablam in the Himalayas. In 2007, Lhakpa climbed Everest to raise money for an elementary school in his hometown in Nepal and to increase public awareness of the contributions of the Sherpa people to Himalayan mountaineering.
