Sherpa scales Mount Everest for 31st time, beating non-Sherpa record by 12 climbs
Nepali Sherpa guide Kami Rita has scaled Mount Everest for a record 31st time, beating a non-Sherpa record set last week by 12 climbs.
The 55-year-old reached the 8,849-metre peak — the highest in the world — by the traditional south-east ridge route while guiding a 22-member Indian army team, officials said.
Pasang Phurba, the director of the trekking company where Kami Rita works, said the record-holder was currently descending to lower camps.
Kami Rita, who uses only his first name, first climbed Everest in 1994 and has done so every year except for three years when authorities closed the mountain to climbers for various reasons.
More than 8,000 people have climbed Mount Everest since it was first scaled by New Zealander Sir Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay in 1953.
Second to Kami Rita, Sherpa Pasang Dawa has ascended Everest 29 times.
The non-Sherpa record is held by British guide Kenton Cool.
He scaled Everest for the 19th time on May 18, breaking his own record for the most ascents of the world's highest mountain by a non-Sherpa guide.
Mr Cool first climbed Mount Everest in 2004 and has been doing it almost every year since then.
His non-Sherpa record is followed by American climbers Dave Hahn and Garrett Madison with 15 times each.
One of the poorest countries in the world, Nepal is home to eight of the world's 14 highest peaks and is heavily reliant on climbing, trekking, and tourism for foreign exchange.
Guiding foreign climbers to Everest and other peaks provides crucial family income to many Sherpas.
Authorities have issued 468 permits to climbers for Everest this March-May climbing season, and more than 300 climbers and Sherpas have already scaled the peak, officials said.
Two climbers are known to have died on the mountain this month and there have also been unconfirmed reports of other deaths.
ABC/AFP
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