KATHMANDU: Record-holding Nepali-British climber Nirmal ‘Nims’ Purja scaled Mount Makalu without using supplemental oxygen, completing his 56th ascent of mountains above 8,000m—and his 28th without using O₂.

According to the expedition organizer, Nims Purja (expedition leader) and his client Ksenia Tsaritsina from Russia stood atop Mount Makalu at 12:00 pm on June 4.

Nims scaled the mountain without bottled oxygen support. With this success on Makalu, he became the first person in history to summit the world’s 14 eight-thousand-meter mountains an incredible 56 times, of which 28 ascents were without O₂.

Last month, Nims also set the fastest record from the summit of Everest to the summit of Lhotse—just 13 hours and 42 minutes.

Former Miss Russia World 2018, Ksenia Tsaritsina, also achieved a double summit, reaching the top of Everest on May 27 and Lhotse on May 28. She had earlier climbed Mount Dhaulagiri. "This spring, she climbed four mountains above 8,000m," the organizer added.

The Russian beauty queen, married to oligarch Aleksey Shapovalov, has also completed five of the Seven Summits: Mount Everest, Vinson Massif, Carstensz Pyramid, Mount Kilimanjaro, and Mount Elbrus. She still needs to scale Denali (North America) and Aconcagua (South America) to complete all seven.