Nepalese mountain guide sets Everest record with 27th ascent

A Nepali mountain guide scaled Mount Everest for a record 27th time on Wednesday, beating his own record, government officials and hiking companies said.

Kami Rita Sherpa, 53 years old, climbed the 8,849-meter mountain in the morning along the south-south mountain route, guiding foreign climbers.

“Yes, Kami Rita climbed Sagarmatha for the 27th time,” said Tourism Department official Bigyan Koirala, referring to the mountain by its Nepalese name.

Thaneswar Guragai, general manager of Seven Summit Treks, where Kami Rita works, said he reached the summit at 8.30 am local time along with foreign climbers.

“We are trying to get details. Now, it is 100 percent confirmed that Kami Rita scaled for the 27th time,” said Guragai.

Kami Rita reached the summit just three days after her fellow Sherpa climber equaled the previous record.

First scaled Everest in 1994

Separately, Ishwari Paudel of the Himalayan Guides company said British climber Kenton Cool, 49, made his 17th ascent of the mountain on Wednesday, the most by a foreign climber.

“It’s cool now that I’m down after guiding my own private client,” Paudel said.

Kami Rita, who calls herself by her first name, first climbed Mount Everest in 1994 and has climbed almost every year since then, except for 2014, 2015 and 2020, when the climb was stopped for various reasons.

Garrett Madison of the US-based company Madison Mountaineering, who has climbed Everest 12 times, five with Kami Rita, describes him as “a very strong climber.”

“It’s very inspirational to see local climbers keep pushing on Mount Everest,” Madison told Reuters by phone from Everest base camp, where he is preparing for his 13th ascent.

Kami Rita’s company said in a statement that he had “dedicated his life to mountain climbing and has become synonymous with the highest peaks in the world.”

Sherpas are known for their climbing skills and many have guided foreign clients up Everest and other mountains.

May is an ideal time to attempt to reach the summit of Everest, with clear weather before the monsoons arrive from the south, bringing cloud and snow to the summit and rain to the lowlands.

Note the permit number

This year, Nepal has issued 478 permits, the most ever, to people climbing Everest compared to the previous record of 408 in 2021.

The Himalayan nation, which relies heavily on climbing, trekking and tourism for foreign exchange, has been criticized for allowing too many climbers, many of them inexperienced, to attempt to summit Everest.

Dangerous overcrowding can develop, especially at the bottleneck called Hillary Step, just below the summit. In 2019, nine exhausted climbers died on Everest after queuing up and down.

Everest has been climbed more than 11,000 times, from the Nepalese and Tibetan sides, since it was first marked in 1953, with many people making the ascent multiple times.

More than 320 people have died on the mountain, hiking officials said.