Nepalese mountaineer Kami Rita Sherpa sets world record with thirtieth ascent of Everest

Kami Rita Sherpa has broken her own record for climbing the world’s highest mountain. Nepalese mountaineer reached the summit of Everest for the thirtieth time times, Wednesday May 22, announced the organizer of his expedition. Kami Rita Sherpa “set a new record for thirty ascents of Everest”said Mingma Sherpa, of Seven Summit Treks.

A mountain guide for more than twenty years, Kami Rita Sherpa climbed to the summit of Everest, at an altitude of 8,849 meters, for the first time in 1994. It was then for a commercial expedition. Since then, he has climbed the world’s highest mountain almost every year, driving clients.

“I am happy with this record, but records are eventually broken”declared Kami Rita Sherpa on May 12, after reaching the summit of Everest for the twenty-ninth times. “The fact that my climbs are helping Nepal to be recognized in the world makes me even more happy”he said.

Several other summits to his credit

In 2023, he climbed to the summit of Everest twice, each time achieving a new record after being overtaken by another guide, Pasang Dawa Sherpa. In the past, Kami Rita Sherpa assured that he was only ” to work “. “Some people chase records, but I don’t do it for records”he said last year.

Nicknamed “Mr. Everest”, he was born in 1970 in Thame, a village in the Himalayas, a breeding ground for experienced mountaineers. His father and brother were mountain guides.

In 2019, he reached the summit of Everest twice in the space of six days. The Nepalese has several other peaks over 8,000 meters to his credit, including K2 in Pakistan, the second highest mountain in the world.

He accomplished his feat on Wednesday, when the Makalu Adventure agency announced the death of a Romanian mountaineer, Gabriel Viorel Tabara, on Lhotse, the fourth highest mountain in the world. “He was found dead in his tent at camp 3 Monday morning by his guide”said Mohan Lamsal of Makalu Adventure. “We are trying to bring down the body of the mountaineer”, he clarified. This death is the fifth this season.

Everest and Lhotse share the same route until it splits at 7,200 meters above sea level. Last week, two Mongolian climbers were found dead after reaching the summit of Everest. A little earlier, a Frenchman and a Nepalese died on Makalu, the fifth highest peak in the world. Around 500 foreign and Nepalese climbers have already reached the summit of Everest since April, the start of the climbing season, which lasts until early June.

This year, Nepal has issued more than 900 permits to climb its mountains – including 419 for Everest – to foreign mountaineers who, for the most part, climb accompanied by a Nepalese guide.

In 2023, more than 600 climbers reached the summit of Everest, which recorded an unprecedented number of 18 deaths.