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“The fitness is the easy part,” Tyler Andrews said in 2025. “The challenge is managing all the variables on the mountain itself.”

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A Massachusetts man set a new speed record for climbing Mount Everest with supplemental oxygen Thursday, summiting the 29,032-foot peak more than an hour faster than anyone had before. 

Concord native Tyler Andrews, 36, said it took him 9 hours and 55 minutes to climb Everest, with the round-trip journey lasting 16 hours and 32 minutes in all. While Nepal’s mountain authorities still need to verify his time, Andrews’s GPS tracking has him beating Nepali climber Lhakpa Gelu Sherpa’s 2003 record of 10 hours and 56 minutes. 

“So, so grateful to Apu Sagarmatha, Chomolungma, Everest for allowing me safe and speedy passage to the top of the world (and down safely),” Andrews wrote on Instagram late Thursday. “So grateful as well to the team of amazing humans who helped me get there. Much more to come once I’ve had a good night’s sleep.”

An ultra-runner and high-altitude speed climber who transitioned from road running to mountain athletics in 2020, Andrews had already made several attempts at conquering Everest’s speed record prior to Thursday’s climb.

“7th time’s the charm 😂,” he wrote in a Strava entry for the monumental climb. 

His father, Tim Andrews, told The Boston Globe Andrews’s boot zipper got stuck on his first try, while later attempts were foiled by bad weather and oxygen that ran out too soon. 

“He always says the question is, ‘Is the mountain going to say yes today?’” Tim Andrews explained.

Tim Andrews told the Globe his son “was just thrilled with the journey and thankful for everybody’s support and our support, because it’s been a long and complicated journey.” 

But Tyler Andrews, a survivor of childhood aplastic anemia, is no stranger to record-shattering  feats; according to his website, he holds more than 100 world records across mountains, roads, and trails. The impressive list includes records set at iconic sites such as Mount Kilimanjaro and Mount Fuji, but Everest — the tallest mountain in the world — was another beast entirely. 

“The fitness is the easy part,” Andrews explained in a 2025 press release announcing his bid to crack a different Everest record. “The challenge is managing all the variables on the mountain itself.”

He dedicated Thursday’s record-breaking climb to friend Greg Krupa, “a fellow runner and mountain-lover” who died in Ecuador in April. Andrews described Krupa as a longtime supporter of The Chaski Foundation, a nonprofit Andrews co-founded that is dedicated to breaking down barriers for emerging athletes while protecting mountain environments. 

“Greg believed in what Chaski was building long before many others did — in the athletes, the communities, and the idea that sport could be a force for real change,” Andrews wrote on his website. “He showed up for this mission in the way he showed up for everything: with generosity, curiosity, and genuine love for the people and places involved. He is deeply missed.” 

Speaking to Indian news outlet ThePrint Friday, Andrews said he is “happy and relieved” to be back in Kathmandu after summiting Everest. 

“This has been years in the making for me. I have spent the last several years chasing this goal, and after six unsuccessful attempts, there were definitely moments where it felt discouraging,” he told ThePrint. “For everything to finally come together on this attempt felt incredibly satisfying.”