Nepali Sherpa Kami Rita climbs Everest for a record 32nd time

KATHMANDU: Nepali Sherpa guide Kami Rita Sherpa climbed Mount Everest for the 32nd time on Sunday, setting a new record and surpassing the mark he had established last year, according to an official statement.

Kami Rita, 56, reached the 8,849-metre peak while leading clients from the 14 Peaks Expedition company. Nepal’s Department of Tourism said he stood on the summit at 10:12am on Sunday, which was 9:27am Pakistan time.

The department congratulated him on what it described as a historic achievement and also acknowledged his role in supporting mountain tourism in Nepal.

In the same statement, the department said Sherpa climber Lakhpa, 52, had completed her 11th ascent of Everest, the highest number recorded by a woman. Further details of the climbs were not available.

Long climbing career

Kami Rita was born in Thame village in Solukhumbu district, the same village as Tenzing Norgay, who along with New Zealander Sir Edmund Hillary became the first to scale Everest in 1953.

Kami Rita first climbed Everest in 1994 and has returned to the mountain every year since, except in 2014, 2015 and 2020, when expeditions to the peak were suspended for different reasons. In some years, he reached the summit twice.

His latest climb extends a record that has made him one of the most recognised high-altitude guides in Nepal’s mountaineering sector.

Everest season under way

More than 8,000 people have climbed Mount Everest since the first successful ascent by Norgay and Hillary, with many doing so more than once.

Among climbers who are not Sherpas, the record belongs to British guide Kenton Cool, who has climbed Everest 19 times. He is followed by American climbers Dave Hahn and Garrett Madison, who have each reached the summit 15 times. Cool and Madison are currently on Everest and seeking to improve their records.

Guiding foreign climbers on Everest and other mountains remains an important source of household income for many Sherpas, who are native to the Solukhumbu district where the world’s highest mountain is located.

Authorities in Nepal have issued 492 permits for Everest during the March-May climbing season. Three Nepali climbers have died on the mountain this month.