Nepal’s mountaineer Kami Rita Sherpa climbs Mt. Everest for 29th time, beats own record

PTI, May 12, 2024, 2:14 PM IST

Nepal’s legendary mountaineer Kami Rita Sherpa made history on Sunday by breaking his record for the highest number of ascents of Mt. Everest as he scaled the world’s highest peak for the 29th time.

The 54-year-old veteran climber reached the 8,849-metre peak at 7:25 am local time on Sunday, according to Rakesh Gurung, director at the Tourism Department in the Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation.

The expedition was organised by the Seven Summit Treks and had 20 climbers. They scaled Everest on Sunday morning, said Thani Guragain, a senior staff at the Seven Summit Treks. “At least 20 climbers from Seven Summit Treks including Kami made a successful ascent of Mt. Everest Sunday morning,” Seven Summit Treks said, issuing a statement.

The climbing members were from countries including the USA, Canada and Kazakhstan besides thirteen climbers from Nepal.

Kami had climbed Everest for the first time in 1994.

Last year, he made two successful attempts to scale Everest for the 27th and 28th times in the same season.

This way, he became the person who climbed Everest for the highest number of times.

Last year, Pasand Dawa Sherpa of Solukhumbu completed his 27th summit of Everest, but he remains uncertain about attempting the climb this season, according to Republica newspaper.

Kami, a senior mountain guide at Seven Summit Treks, was born on January 17, 1970.

Kami’s mountaineering journey began in 1992 when he joined an expedition to Everest as a supporting staff.

Since then, Kami has fearlessly embarked on several expeditions. Besides the Everest, he has also conquered Mt. K2, Cho Oyu, Lhotse, and Manaslu.

Meanwhile, a renowned British climber scaled the world’s highest mountain for the 18th time breaking his own record for the most Mt Everest summits by any foreign climber. According to base camp officials, Kenton Cool from Gloucestershire, South West England, also broke his own British record for the most summits of the world’s highest peak, The Himalayan Times reported. On Friday, ten mountain guides from Nepal successfully scaled the world’s highest peak after they fixed the ropes in the mountain clearing the route for other climbers.

As the rope fixing job has been completed, Mt. Everest is now open for mountaineers from both Nepal and foreign countries to climb, said Chun Bahadur Tamang, an official at the Mountaineering Section of the Department of Tourism, issuing a notice Friday night.

The rope-fixing work started Friday morning and concluded at night.

Altogether 414 climbers from 41 expeditions have acquired permission to scale Everest in this season.