On Saturday a 52-year-old Kami Rita Sherpa climbed Mt Everest which is an 8,848.86 meter mountain along the traditional southwest ridge route leading 10 other Sherpa climbers. He beats his previous record made last year, by scaling Mount Everest for a record 26th time, a government official said on Sunday.
Kami Rita took the climbing route introduced by New Zealander Sir Edmund Hillary and Nepal’s sherpa Tenzing Norgay in 1953.
Following his father’s footsteps, Kami Rita became a mountain guide, first summiting the peak in 1994. Ever since he has been climbing Everest almost every year.
“Kami Rita has broken his record and established a new world record in climbing,” said Taranath Adhikari, director-general of the department of tourism in the capital Kathmandu.
From the first scaled in 1953 Everest has been climbed 10,657 from Nepali and Tibetan sides, many have climbed multiple times, and 311 people have lost thier lives in the process, according to the Himalayan database.
“Some people chase records, but I have not been doing this for records,” Kami Rita Sherpa said in March, before heading off to Everest.
“I think about how we can increase tourism in Nepal, what can we do for more mountain climbers to come here and how can we satisfy them and make them happy.”
Nepal has issued 316 permits to climb Everest in the peak season this year, which runs through May, compared with 408 last year, the highest ever.
The eleven climbers reached on Saturday to the top of Mount Everest, the first of hundreds of climbers required to summit the world’s highest mountain from its southern approach in the coming weeks.
