KATHMANDU – Mount Everest saw two record-breaking climbs on Sunday with a Nepali sherpa making the most ever summits and a British climber setting the record for a foreigner.
Kami Rita Sherpa, 54, scaled the world’s tallest mountain for a 29th time while British man Kenton Cool marked his 18th peak.
Sherpa, already the world-record holder, beat his own landmark in setting the new standard.
A guide for over two decades, he first climbed the summit in 1994 and has made the peak almost every year since.
Sherpa reached the 8,849-meter (29,000 feet) summit on Sunday at about 7:30 a.m.
Local authorities said Cool, from Gloucestershire, had also summited on Sunday.
The British man is also a mountaineering guide and has previously played down his achievements, telling AFP news agency in 2022 that “so many of the Sherpas have so many more ascents”.
Lhakpa Sherpa is the woman who has made the most ever climbs of Mount Everest, crowd-funding her world-record 10th climb in 2022.
Nepal’s government has issued about 400 mountaineering permits to climbers this year for the spring season which runs from April to June. Almost all climbers are accompanied by a local guide meaning about 800 people are expected to make the ascent.
More than 600 people made it to the peak last year. But it was also one of the deadliest climbing seasons- with 18 deaths recorded on the mountain. (BBC)
