KATHMANDU: Austria-based Furtenbach Adventures capped a landmark Spring 2026 season on Friday when 42 members of its team,  guides, Sherpa staff and paying clients, reached the summit of Mount Everest (8,849m), with British mountaineer Kenton Cool notching his record 20th ascent as part of the push.

All climbers were members of either the company's FLASH Team or its Signature 1:1 Guided Program, both of which use pre-acclimatisation protocols at lower altitude before arriving in Nepal, enabling participants to complete the full Everest expedition in under four weeks, a model Furtenbach Adventures has championed as the future of high-altitude commercial guiding.

Cool, 52, who first summited Everest in 2004 and has guided clients on the peak almost every year since, became the first non-Nepali climber in history to reach the top of the world 20 times. Expedition organiser Lukas Furtenbach called him someone who is "quietly rewriting the record books," adding that Cool was "still making it look like just another walk in the hills."

The day also produced a notable performance on neighbouring Lhotse (8,516m), where Furdiki Sherpa completed a single-push ascent from Base Camp to the summit, an effort she had announced pre-season as a tribute to her late father, senior icefall doctor Ang Nima Sherpa, who had long dreamed of climbing the peak.

All climbers were descending safely toward Camp 2 following their respective summits and were expected back at Everest Base Camp on Saturday.

The 42-strong summit team included: Rodrigo Gonzalez, Paul Guerra, Hao Zhang, Kenton Cool, Murat Ustay, Rupert Hauer, Frank Fumich, Rene Morkos, Matthew Calkins, David Montesanti, Michael Hull, Alex Nemet, William Vaughn, Herbert Wolf, Dave Watson, Kunga Sherpa, Ang Kaji Sherpa, Tasi Sherpa, Dawa Chiring Sherpa, Pasang Sherpa, Dawa Dorchi Sherpa, Lhakpa Gyalzen Sherpa, Lhakpa Sherpa, Pasang Sherpa, Furkami Sherpa, Nima Temba Sherpa, Gelu Sherpa, Dawa Tasi Sherpa, Lhakpa Thinduk Sherpa, Dorchi Sherpa A, Dorchi Sherpa B, Pasang Rinji Sherpa, Rinji Sherpa, Chiring Tendi Sherpa, Sip Tamang, Phunuru Sherpa, Dawa Jangbu Sherpa, Ram Mangar, Pemba Gelu Sherpa, Mingmar Tamang, and Lhakpa Sherpa Janduk.