Everest Sea-To-Summit
3 days | 23 hRS | 7 mins
On 19 May 2025, (flying from New York to Nepal and climbing from Base Camp) Andrew Ushakov became the fastest person to reach the top of Mount Everest from sea-level.
Everest Sea-To-Summit
3 days
23 hrs
7 mins
On 19 May 2025, (flying from New York to Nepal and climbing from Base Camp) Andrew Ushakov became the fastest person to reach the top of Mount Everest from sea-level.
Andrew's record breaking journey
The Goal
Sea-To-Summit in 5 Days
I am just a regular guy who had a dream to climb Mount Everest.
I could never find the time for the traditional 40 - 50 days of acclimatization on the lower slopes, so I set my sights on an 'accelerated ascent'. Over the next 4 years I worked with experts, trained hard and prepared my body and my mind for an ascent with little to no acclimatization on the lower slopes.
In May 2024, I set off with a goal to climb Everest in 12 days.
However, when I arrived my climbing 'window' was reduced to six days. I could go home, or I could give it a go... and I almost succeeded! Just 300 metres from the summit I lost vision in the death zone and had to turn back.
Once I got home, I consulted doctors and 'performance at altitude' coaches, taking my training and preparation up a level (or two or three)!
One year later, I left my home in New York and 3 days, 23 hours and 7 minutes later I achieved what many said was impossible – I was standing on top of Mount Everest.
Flying from New York to Kathmandu, then to Everest base camp, I started my climb for the summit that same day, without acclimatizing in the mountains.
Approach
How did I do this?
Acclimatization is the key reason why people spend so much time to climb high mountains
At altitude, your body is affected by 2 factors:
- Reduced levels of oxygen; and
- Reduced air pressure.
If an ordinary person was to suddenly find themselves at the top of Everest without prior acclimatization, they will die in a matter of hours. I wanted to avoid that long 40-50 days expedition by simulating acclimatization at home, spending time in a hypoxic tent, and working out in a hypoxic mask.
The problem is that this technology is over 20 years old, is mostly used for medium level altitudes, and is not a magic pill. It helps to prepare the body for the reduced oxygen, but it cannot prepare the body for reduced air pressure, which mainly caused my blindness and nearly cost me life in 2024.
Many people have tried to accelerate climbing Everest using hypoxic tents, and the fastest known time so far belongs to Roxanne Vogel, who climbed Everest in 2019 from sea to summit in 12 days.
5 years preparing for a 5 day climb
In 2020, I climbed my first mountain - Ojos del Salado in Chile (6,893m).
That was really hard to go up, but on the way down my friend got altitude sickness and we had to carry him. It was probably the hardest day in my life. But the self-reflection I went through that day, and later, helped a lot in different areas of my life. I realized that reaching the edge of possible is the best pathway to self-improvement for me. For this year's successful expedition, I spent 400+ hours in a hypoxic tent and did 7-9 workouts per week in a hypoxic mask, which could last up to 4 - 5 hours each. Balancing different aspects of life has not been easy, but it is something that I believe will lead to a better, more fulfilled life in the future.
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Technology
HUMAN LIMITS, TECHNOLOGY AND SURVIVAL
My record-breaking Everest Sea-To-Summit climb has been supported by a cutting-edge research team, led by Dr. Irina Zelenkova (Barcelona, Spain).
Her patented method involves:
⁃ 400+ hours in a hypoxic chamber
⁃ hypoxic sleep and simulated altitude training
⁃ advanced consulting on supplements (no-doping) and nutrition
⁃ psychological protocols and medical testing
⁃ physiological monitoring
⁃ zero use of xenon.
The big role was also taken by Professor Pitsiladis, a member of the International Olympic Committee’s Medical and Scientific Commission. He is globally known for founding the SUB2 project — a landmark initiative that brought together science and athletes to break the two-hour marathon barrier. His work focuses on applying genomics, wearable technology, and real-time data to better understand and extend the limits of human performance.
What excites me is understanding the limits of human performance. What can man do?
New York Times - Man vs Marathon
My Everest Sea-To-Summit climb has built on this vision by using real-time biometric monitoring and AI-powered environmental analytics to gather unprecedented data.
The integrated system includes core temperature sensors (ingestible pills), heart rate monitors, and wearable biomechanical devices. These fed into a live dashboard powered by global weather models and machine learning to provide critical health and environmental alerts to the support team in real time.
This isn’t just a record attempt. It’s a testbed for future medical and athletic safety in extreme environments.
Images from the climb in 2024
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Principles
Only oxygen
Climbing mountains is an athletic activity.
I believe that every climber should follow the rules of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). I don't think that climbers should use substances such as dexamethasone or xenon (except, if appropriate, in an emergency) because it is considered by many to be unethical and is also potentially dangerous.
For my record breaking climb I used traditional supplemental bottled oxygen and nothing else.
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TEAM: The Climber
Andrew Ushakov
Regular Life
I am a proud father, husband, and a son.
Some people say I am a bookworm, with four Master's degrees, including Columbia University and London University.
At my work, I take part in designing some of the most complicated buildings in the world, including sky-scrapers in Manhattan. This job requires thorough calculations and risk mitigation.
Mountain Life
I started climbing mountains in 2020 after deciding to live life in full.
Since then, I have climbed eight high mountains, fighting snow storms in Alaska, helping people with HACE in the Andes, and getting frostbite in Antarctica.
My greatest passion is to break the limits of what is possible in different areas of life.
TEAM: The Guide
'TJ' Tejan Gurung
The youngest British male to climb the 14 Peaks
Andrew's guide from Elite Exped is the youngest Brit male to climb the 14 Peaks, and he said:
“I’m really proud of Andrew’s determination and drive. To come back from injury and set back in the way he has, shows huge strength of character and mental resilience. I’m proud to stand on the summit of Everest with you Andrew, you deserve this success.”
on Instagram
on Instagram
Team
Support Crew
No significant achievement can be done alone.
I am fortunate to have some of the smartest people I know to help me prepare:
- Dr. Irina Zelenkova - Medical
- Valentyn Sypavin - Advisor
- Nimsdai Purja and Elite Exped - Porters, Support and Base Camp Crew
Many thanks to my family, friends, and business partners who supported me all this way, and special thanks to the great filming crew that we have
Challenges
Broken Arm
In March 2025, while doing a training climb on Cotopaxi mountain in Ecuador, I was caught in the most devastating avalanche in the history of this mountain country.
Swept away with more than 40 other climbers, I was dragged for more than 2,500 feet (800 meters). Barely surviving the avalanche, I found my guide heavily injured, bleeding and unable to walk. After finding help and assisting my guide, I descended and went to the hospital, where they told me I had broken my arm and shoulder and had a heavily injured hip and knee. The bone in my elbow was split into 7 pieces. In total, I had 4 fractures: 2 in my arm and 2 in my shoulder blade.
I have had to adapt the training program for my Everest expedition as much of my preparation has been with one arm only.
Finally, I had to climb Everest with these 4 fractures.
Challenges
Previous Blindness
In 2024, when I almost managed to ascend Everest in 6 days, I experienced sudden loss of my vision not once, but three times.
First, at 6,100m, at the notorious Khumbu Icefall. I didn't have any days in reserve to rest, so my choice was to either abandon the expedition and go home, or to continue going blind through crevasses and ice bridges, hoping that I would regain my vision at some stage. I chose to continue, and after a few hard hours, I started to partially see again.
Second, at 8,100m, just 40 minutes above Camp 4,. I decided to move on blind again, and in 1 hour started to see.
Third, at 8,550m, at the steep ridge above the balcony, I lost vision again. But this time, the pain was 100 out of 10, it was like a needle in each eye. I screamed under the mask and waited for 2 hours in the death zone, but it didn't go away. I made the tough decision to turn back.
I saw a number of specialists and have had a minor surgery to repair a valve in my eye that was not working the way it should.
Challenges
Mental Load
It all adds up!
Sleeping for months in a hypoxic tent, long workouts, diet, issues at work, some family stuff, bad memory of last year’s failure on Everest, and the fact that no one has ever climbed Everest in so few days without acclimatization.
Another part of the mental challenge has been getting my story out there. Last year, trying to set the speed world record on Everest, I posted nothing about it. Zero posts, zero interviews, just a few pictures by myself for memories (way less than people do on a weekend trip). This year, some of my friends insisted that I share the project, because it could inspire a few people in a good way. Thanks for your feedback, whatever it could be!
Faqs
It was in July, 2023. After climbing Denali – which took 20 days including a commute – I realized that to be absent from my family and work for for the 50 days traditionally required to acclimatize for and climb Everest would be too much.
Then I started to research and found a story of Roxanne Vogel from California, who did the round trip in 14 days. So I started to work with Dr. Irina Zelenkova (based in Barcelona) on how to ascend Everest in less than 50 days.
Intially she thought I could do it in 3-4 weeks and she wasn’t sure if it was possible to do it faster, as Roxanne mentioned she used the altitude chamber (which I hadn’t) for preparation on top of a hypoxic tent and mask. I suggested testing it with a lower mountain – we chose Mount Aconcagua (6962m) in Argentina in January, 2024 – and if I could climb way faster than usual, we would attempt to do Everest sea-to-summit in 12 days.
Mount Aconcagua usually takes 18-20 days to climb (a short program is 12 days). We started to train, and I climbed Mount Aconcagua in just 4 days (including commute from New York), proving that I was able to climb mountains faster than the average ascent time. After that, I got a green light from Irina.
For 2025 I planned to summit in under 4 days. We had an hour-by-hour plan with TJ (my Elite Exped guide) and Irina (my doctor) starting from New York and up to the summit.
This was based on the experience of my 2024 attempt, when I wanted to set myself the personal challenge of a world record, and thought I could probably do it in 11 days.
However, when I arrived in Kathmandu, on May, 23 2024, I found out that Everest National Park was to be closed by 29 May, meaning all the ladders and ropes through the Khumbu Icefall would be removed. So, instead of 11 days I had planned for, I only had only 6 days (leaving NY on 22 May and 28 May being the latest dy that I could summit.
When I almost made it in 6 days (turning back just short of the summit at 8550m because I lost vision), I realized that I could probably climb even faster than that.
The 2024 expedition details can be verified by 8K company which provided my climbing logistics and its co-founders Pemba Sherpa and Lhakpa Sherpa can confirm all the dates.
No, I was concentrating on my own personal quest - pushing myself safely, and competing with myself first of all.
I have been mainly concentrating on my own challenge and working with my team.
I announced it on my website (you can check it using Webarchive). As I say, it was primarily a personal challenge and I was concentrating on my mission rather than publicity.
Thursday 15 May
- 00:30 EST (10.15 Nepal time) - departure from New York Kathmandu through Istanbul
Friday 16 May6.15 am - arrival at Kathmandu
- 11:30 - arrival at Everest Base Camp (using a helicopter through Lukla)
- 21:00 - start of the climb
Saturday 17 May
- 09:00 - arrival at Camp 2
- 15:00 - start at Camp 3
- 22:00 - arrival at Camp 3
Sunday 18 May
- 07:00 - start at Camp 4
- 18:00 - arrival at Camp 4
Monday 19 May
- 00.00 - start of the summit push
- 09.23 - SUMMIT
- 14:00 - arrival at Camp 4
- 18:00 - start to Camp 3
- 21:00 - arrival at Camp 3
Tuesday 20 May
- 01:00 - arrival at Camp 2
- 09:00 - start to Base Camp
- 13:00 - arrival at Base Camp
- 16.30 - fly by helicopter to Kathmandu
- 18:00 - arrival at Kathmandu
- 19.25 - departure to Dubai
Wednesday 21 May
- 00.25 - arrival at Dubai
- 14:00 - had a business meeting in Dubai about a large construction project
- New York - Everest summit
- 15 May at 10.15 Nepal time (00.30 Eastern time) - departure from New York
- 19 May at 09.23 Nepal time - summited Everest
- Total: 3 days and 23 hours
- Previous record: around 12 days from San Francisco
- Istanbul - Everest summit
- 15 May at 11.20 Nepal time - departure from Istanbul
- 19 May at 09.23 Nepal time - summited Everest
- Total: 3 days and 10 hours
- Previous record: same
- Everest Base Camp to Everest summit
- 16 May at 21:00 - Started
- 19 May at 09:23 - Summitted
- Total: 2 days and 12 hours
- Not a record, just FYI
- Sea to Summit to Sea trip:
- 15 May at 23.20 Nepal time - departure from Istanbul
- 21 May at 00.25 Nepal time - arrival at Dubai
- Total: 5 days and 1 hour
- Current record: 14 days
I used a non-traditional approach here. I started using O2 from Everest Base Camp, but on a low supply (0.5 litres per minute (lpm), and slowly increasing in each camp. By doing this, I significantly reduced risks of a high-altitude sickness during critical 1st and 2nd days (as I didn't have any mountain acclimatization (!) ), but at the same time in total I used only few bottles more before the summit push than in traditional approach and it wasn't expensive to deliver these bottles to Base Camp by yaks. So I significantly reduced risks with the insignificant increase of price.
On the summit push, I used mostly 3 lpm supply, same as approx. 35% climbers on the mountain, so nothing magical here too.
I had two sherpas dedicated to help me at all times. So 2:1 ratio. There were two teams working in shifts, all with full 40-days acclimatization prior to my arrival:
- Team 1 from Base Camp to Camp 2 (C2)
- Team 2 from C2 to Camp 3 (C3) while the first team rested.
- Then in the morning from C3, Team 1 came from C2 to C3, picked up some kit and went straight to Camp 4 (C4) while Team 2 continued with me from C3 to C4.
- Both teams regrouped at C4 and we all did the summit push together.
- So 4 in total split into Team 1 and Team 2. This approach ensured all team members were rested and fresh to support me in case of emergency and everyone remained as safe as possible).
In addition, the team also included a guide and his sherpa, and a director of photography and his sherpa.
I slept for less than one hour during the ascent. I didn’t sleep during the flight, didn’t sleep at Camp 2 (because of jetlag and altitude), and at Camp 3. I only slept around 40 minutes in Camp 4, which was super dangerous (many people fall asleep and never wake up), but I was so tired! The first normal sleep (approx. 6 hours) I had, was on the way back, at Camp 2.
- Outward: I started from New York on 15 May at 00.30 Eastern time
- Return: I could have taken a flight from Kathmandu to NY on a flight departing at 21:00 (90 minutes later than the one I took to Dubai). This arrived back in New York on 21 May at 08.15 Eastern time, which would have been a total round-trip duration of 6 days, 7 hours and 45 minutes.
The safety of myself and my team has always been my priority and I was signed off by my doctor before going. I also used a special compression bandage for my elbow and a supportive layer for my shoulder which helped me a lot.
Absolutely not.
I would like to make it very clear: what I did was super hard, took thousands of hours of preparation and hundreds of tactical decisions, combined with some luck!
The idea was to show that it is possible for me and to move the needle from an average 40-50 days to 20-25 days using pre-acclimatization and the right strategy.
I am concerned that some people might read “Everest in 4 days” and will try to achieve the same result without the levels of effort, expertise and safety that I had. That could lead to death or serious injuries for inexperienced and/or unprepared climbers. Please be mindful and reasonable.
No, I didn’t.
It definitely cost more than a standard expedition, mainly because of the level of support and preparation required for this kind of high-risk, accelerated ascent.
In my case, I had a larger guiding and safety team, bespoke training and medical support, and advanced biometric monitoring in place - so yes, the investment was higher. But for me, this wasn’t just about climbing Everest - it was about pushing the boundaries of what’s possible for myself through science and preparation, while ensuring safety was never compromised.
That’s a fair question, and I understand why people might think that. But the truth is, no amount of money can buy you a fast or safe climb on Everest. What mattered most was months of preparation, including over 400 hours of training in a hypoxic tent, a carefully designed science-led acclimatisation plan, and an incredible support team who prioritized safety above all else.
Yes, I invested in a highly experienced guiding team - but that’s because I knew what I was attempting was right on the edge of what’s possible. It wasn’t about buying speed - it was about ensuring safety, and respecting the mountain every step of the way.
I estimate that, if I hadn’t taken additional precautions, the total cost wouldn’t have exceeded 15% of the average expedition price.
Additional costs (excl. precautions for the 4-day ascent):
- Hypoxic tent to buy & to sell after /to rent for three months
- 4 additional bottles of oxygen, of which 2 are for lower camps ($300-400 each), and 2 are for the summit push ($500-800 each)
Nothing major: swelling in my toes, pain in my arm and shoulder (mostly because it didn’t recover enough after fractures), a bit of a cough. Within a week after the summit it is all gone.
Yes, once. At Camp 4, after 3 nights without sleep, I was super tired and felt very bad. My blood oxygen saturation decreased to 35% only. I had some dexamethasone to use in an emergency (used to activate a person for several hours to enable them to descend safely). I was laying in my tent at the altitude of 7,900m, at the border of a Death Zone, alone, and looking at the dexamethasone and contemplating whether I should turn back now or give myself another hour to try to recover. I decided to wait and slept for 40 minutes. My blood oxygen saturation went up to 80%. That was really a nice power nap!
No, I didn’t. I had dexamethasone on me, both in pills and in a syringe, but I never used it. I gave the syringe on the way down to another climber, who really needed it because of the HACE at 8,700m.
That medicine in a liquid form was the most efficient help she could get, and I didn’t hesitate for a moment to give it to her despite the possible risks for me. The next day, I was told that she was rescued from Camp 3, and I hope that my medicine helped her to make it there and helped to save her life.
I did. I used it during my climb through Khumbu Icefall and later to Camp 2, but my arm was freezing all the time and I needed to use my right arm from time to time during the climb. Before my departure, an orthopedic surgeon in the USA, told me that I could use my arm to ensure my safety, and he would be able to fix any damage, because it would be better to suffer some short term pain in my arm than die on Everest! Starting from Camp 2, I didn’t use sling, just a compression bandage. I also did exercises every evening for the arm and took 45 ibuprofen pills during the expedition... and it wasn’t that bad after all.
I had some problems, but way less than last year. The main issue I had was at the altitude of 8,000m (the pain was 4 out of 10), the same place where I lost my vision for the second time in 2024. But this time I used some eye drops and high-end ski goggles, which protected my eyes from the strong side wind. During 20 minutes after the summit I climbed with my eyes mostly closed (where the terrain allowed this), and then my vision recovered.
Yes, a lot, without them I wouldn’t be able to climb that fast. Overall, I believe sherpas are the gods of high mountains, and 95% of all climbs are possible just because of them. Nothing but huge respect for all of them!
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