Kathmandu, May 28 – Veteran Nepali climber Kami Rita Sherpa reached the summit of Mount Everest for a record 31st time on Tuesday, further extending his own record for the most ascents of the world’s highest peak, expedition organisers said.
The 55-year-old Sherpa guided a team from the Indian Army Adventure Wing, led by Lieutenant Colonel Manoj Joshi, to the 8,849-metre (29,032-foot) summit in the early hours of Tuesday, said Mingma Sherpa of Seven Summits Treks in Kathmandu.
“This new feat cements his status as the record holder for the highest number of ascents to the top of the world – a record that no one else has come close to,” Mingma was quoted as saying by the Kathmandu Post.
Rita, who is reportedly in good health, is descending to base camp along with the rest of the expedition team. He had made an earlier attempt to climb Everest this season but was forced to turn back due to poor weather. Tuesday’s summit marked a successful second attempt.
A professional mountain guide, Kami Rita first climbed Everest in 1994 and has summited the peak almost every year since, often more than once per season. He has also successfully scaled other major Himalayan peaks, including K2, Cho Oyu, Lhotse, and Manaslu.
Born into a family of mountaineers, Rita followed in the footsteps of his father, one of the early Sherpa guides on Everest expeditions. He has spent decades guiding international climbers to the summit and is widely respected in Nepal’s mountaineering community.
His nearest rival, fellow Sherpa climber Pasang Dawa, has climbed Everest 29 times. Mount Everest was first successfully climbed in 1953 by Sir Edmund Hillary of New Zealand and Tenzing Norgay of Nepal.
