Kathmandu, Nepal – Renowned Sherpa mountain guide Kami Rita completed his 30th ascent of Mount Everest on Wednesday, his second climb to the top of the world this month.
The 54-year-old, known as “Everest Man,” reached the 29,032-meter summit at 7:49 a.m., according to Khim Lal Gautam, a government official at the base camp.
His first ascent of this year’s climbing season was on May 12, guiding foreign clients.
Niranjan Shrestha / AP
After that 29th ascent, he told Agence France-Presse that he was “happy with the record, but in the end the records are broken. I am even more happy that my climbs are helping Nepal to be recognized in the world.”
Him too Climbed Everest twice last yearwhich set the record for the most ascents of the world’s highest mountain in first place and was extended less than a week later.
Climbers typically take several days to summit Everest and it is very rare for them to do so more than once in a short time, notes Reuters news agency.
His closest competition for the most Everest climbs is fellow Sherpa guide Pasang Dawa, who has 27 successful ascents of the mountain to his credit.
Rita first climbed Everest in 1994 and has made the journey almost every year since. He is one of many Sherpa guides whose expertise and skills are critical to the safety and success of foreign climbers seeking to reach the summit of the mountain each year.
His father was one of the first Sherpa guides. In addition to his climbs of Everest, Kami Rita has climbed several other peaks that are among the highest in the world, including K2, Cho Oyu, Manaslu and Lhotse.
Niranjan Shrestha / AP
Officials said more than 450 climbers have scaled Mount Everest from the Nepalese side of the peak in the south this climbing season, which ends in a few days.
Nepalese authorities have issued hundreds of climbing permits to foreign climbers this season, and at least as many local Sherpa guides accompanied them.
Everest was first climbed in 1953 by New Zealander Edmund Hillary and Nepalese Sherpa Tenzing Norgay.
Mountain climbing is a major tourist attraction in Nepal, which has eight of the fourteen highest peaks in the world.
