Sherpa team aims for record Everest ascent

A team of four Sherpas yesterday set off to attempt a record winter ascent of Mount Everest in just five days, which would also be the first winter climb of the peak in more than quarter of a century. The last successful winter ascent was in 1993 by a Japanese team. "A winter speed climbing expedition has not happened yet and so we are attempting a new record," team leader Tashi Lakpa Sherpa, who has summited Everest eight times, told reporters.