First Hong Kong woman to summit Everest ascends world's eighth-highest peak in 18 hours 53 minutes KATHMANDU, SEPTEMBER 23 Hong Kong's pioneering mountaineer Tsang Yin Hung, better known as Ada, has set a new women's speed record on Mt. Manaslu (8,163 m), reaching the summit from base camp in 18 hours and 53 minutes. Canadian-Iranian climber Andrew Aziz calls for safer summit rules After Manaslu success Chinese climber Li Haoting sets fastest national time on Manaslu According to climber Dukpa Sherpa of Pioneer Adventure, Ada began her push from base camp at 6:03 p.m. on Monday and stood atop the peak at 12:56 p.m. Tuesday. The 50-year-old climber, who became the first woman from Hong Kong to scale Everest in 2017 and later led China's first women's team to the top in 2019, said she was not chasing records. "Speed climbing helps me test and sharpen my abilities," Ada said after returning to base camp. Despite nausea and stomach pain en route, Ada continued with Sherpa brothers Phurba Tenjing and Nima Gyalzen of Rolwaling. The expedition was jointly organized by Dreamers Destination Treks & Expedition and Pioneer Adventure. Phurba, who climbed without supplemental oxygen, has summited Everest 17 times. Nima has scaled all 14 of the world's 8,000-metre peaks. The Sherpa siblings' family holds a Guinness World Record as the only family with eight Everest summiteers. Italian climber Davide Peluzzi and UK-based Rojita Buddhacharya provided weather support. A previous claim by Taiwan's Grace Tseng in 2022 of a 13-hour Manaslu ascent faced controversy over lack of proof. Ada also holds the women's speed record on Everest, completing that climb in 25 hours 50 minutes in 2021, breaking the record set by Phunjo Jangbo Lama of Nepal in 2018. Lama had again set the new record of 14 hours 31 minutes on Everest on 2024.