Monday 26 May 2003 Two Everest climbers set records  | Sibusiso Vilane, a thirty-two year old South African man, has become the first black climber to reach the top of Mount Everest. His success came on the same morning that a sherpa Pemba Dorje broke the record for the fastest ever ascent of the mountain. This report from Jane Hughes. |
 Listen to the story Sibusiso Vilane spoke to the BBC by radio from the summit of Everest and said he was crying tears of joy. He said he was feeling well and was very grateful to be there.
He's spent weeks at base camp and up on the mountain acclimatising and waiting for a break in the weather. He reached the top of the world after climbing through a clear and starlit night. But the winds are now much stronger and he still has to get safely back down the mountain – something climbers regard as at least as much of a challenge as the summit itself.
A few hours before he got there, Lakba Gelu Sherpa arrived at the top of Everest in record time. He took just under eleven hours to go from base camp to the summit – a journey that takes the average climber a good four days of hard climbing.
His achievementbreaksthe world record set just a couple of days ago by a fellow sherpa, Pemba Dorje, who got to the top of the mountain in twelve-hours-forty-five minutes. Listen to the words summit top grateful thankful base camp the shelter that climbers use temporarily at the bottom of Everest acclimatising becoming used to something a break here - a change a challenge a problem, a difficulty achievement success breaks does better than the world record the global victory set established  Read more about this story | |  | | | SEARCH IN LEARNING ENGLISH | | | |
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