Nepal’s Kami Rita breaks his own record by scaling Mount Everest for 26th time
- The 52-year-old sherpa first scaled Mount Everest in 1994 and has been making the trip nearly every year since then
- Everest has been climbed more than 10,000 times since it was first scaled in 1953. At least 311 people have died trying to reach the world’s tallest peak.
An experienced Nepalese Sherpa guide scaled Mount Everest for the 26th time breaking his own record for the most climbs of the world’s highest peak, expedition organisers said on Sunday.
Kami Rita reached the 8,849-metre (29,032-foot) summit on Saturday evening leading a group of Sherpa climbers who fixed ropes along the route so that hundreds of other climbers and guides can make their way to the top of the mountain later this month.
Rita and 10 other Sherpa guides reached the summit without any problems and safely returned to lower camps, said Mingma Sherpa of the Kathmandu-based Seven Summit Treks.
“Kami Rita has broken his own record and established a new world record in climbing,” said Taranath Adhikari, director general of the Department of Tourism in capital Kathmandu.
Kami Rita’s wife, who gave her name as Jangmu said she was happy over the achievement of her husband.
The climbing route used by Kami Rita was pioneered by New Zealander Sir Edmund Hillary and Nepal’s sherpa Tenzing Norgay in 1953 and remains the most popular.
The group reached the summit around 7pm on Saturday, which by Everest climbing standards is late. At night, there is risk of weather deteriorating and climbers losing their way on the way down.