Kristin Harila
Ingerid Stenvold

The Ultimate Triumph -- And the Tragedy That Followed

Den ultimate triumfen: Og tragedien som fulgte

When Kristin Harila set her stunning world record — in 92 days, she had climbed all 14 of the world’s peaks above 8,000 meters — it should have been the ultimate triumph. Instead, it marked the start of the darkest year of her life.

By following Kristin and her climbing partner Tenjen Lama Sherpa through the expedition, we get up close to spectacular scenery, dramatic accidents and physical bloodshed. We get to know a wormhole of international climbers with pointy elbows, a man’s world that has no desire for an unknown woman to assert herself. And we follow a unique friendship that develops between the sherpa and the strong-willed woman who quit her day job and sold her apartment to pursue a dream.

The book is written together with Ingerid Stenvold.

Photo: Gabriel Torso

Kristin Harila (b. 1986) grew up in the small village of Kariel in Finnmark. In 2019, she quit her job in corporate management and sold her apartment to pursue her dream of climbing the world’s highest mountain. In 2023, she and Tenjen Lama Sherpa set an unprecedented world record: They climbed all mountains over 8,000 meters in just 92 days. Harila also holds the world record for the fastest time to have climbed the five highest mountains in the world (69 days) and is the woman to have climbed Mount Everest and Lhotse the fastest — in just 8 hours.