Making history, a Nepalese mountaineer ascends Mount Everest for the 27th time.
After Kami Rita Sherpa climbed Everest for the 22nd time in 2018, he has held the record, surpassing the previous milestone he shared with two other Sherpa climbers who have since retired.
Kathmandu, Nepal: On Wednesday, Nepali climber Kami Rita Sherpa summited Mount Everest for the 27th time, retaking the record for most summits of the highest mountain in the world.
According to Mingma Sherpa of Seven Summit Treks, the organisation that organised his expedition, "He successfully reached the top this morning guiding a Vietnamese climber."
The 53-year-old has held the record since 2018, when he made his 22nd ascent of Everest, breaking the previous record he had previously shared with two other Sherpa climbers who have since retired.
Yet on Sunday, another climber, 46-year-old Pasang Dawa Sherpa, tied the mark by making it to the summit a record-tying 26 times.
In 1994, while working for a commercial expedition, Kami Rita Sherpa, a guide for more than 20 years, became the first person to summit the 8,848-meter (29,029-foot) peak.
Since then, he has nearly always climbed Everest, multiple times serving as the team leader of the first rope-fixing crew to open the path to the highest point on Earth.
These records were created during my duties as a guide, not with the aim of making them, Sherpa told AFP last month as he made his way to the base camp.
Sherpa, known as "the Everest man," was born in 1970 in Thame, a Himalayan region well known for producing excellent mountaineers.
Sherpa learned about mountain guiding by seeing his father and brother as a young boy, and he soon followed in their footsteps.
He made two summit attempts in 2019 over the course of six days.
Each spring, when temperatures are mild and winds are usually calm, Nepal attracts hundreds of adventurers to its eight of the world's ten highest peaks.
Officials have awarded 478 licences to foreign climbers this year, with the $11,000 charge representing a portion of the $45,000 to $200,000 in overall costs for a summit.
More than 900 people — a record — will attempt to summit this season, which lasts through early June, even though the majority will require a guide.
The backbone of the climbing industry, Nepali guides—typically Sherpas from the regions surrounding Mount Everest—take great risks to carry supplies and meals, fix ropes, and maintain ladders.