Published: 15:16, May 22, 2024
Nepal sherpa scales Mount Qomolangma for record 30th time
By Reuters
Veteran Sherpa guide Kami Rita returning after scaling Mount Qomolangma for the 28th time arrives at the airport in Kathmandu, Nepal, May 25, 2023. (PHOTO / AP)

KATHMANDU - A Nepali sherpa guide topped the summit of Mount Qomolangma, also known as Mount Everest, for a record 30th time on Wednesday, an official said, his second ascent in 10 days.

Ordinary climbers are known to take several days to climb the summit of Mount Qomolangma, and it is very rare for mountaineers to make multiple ascents in a short time.

Kami Rita first climbed Mount Qomolangma in 1994, and has done so almost every year since, except for three years when authorities closed the mountain for various reasons

Kami Rita Sherpa, 54, reached the 8,849-meter peak by the traditional southeast ridge route, Nepali tourism official Khim Lal Gautam said.

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Kami Rita had climbed the peak for the 29th time on May 12.

He “broke his own record ... this marks his 30th ascent to the top of the world,” Gautam, chief of the expedition monitoring and facilitation field office at the base camp, said in a post on social media website X.

Kami Rita first climbed Mount Qomolangma in 1994, and has done so almost every year since, except for three years when authorities closed the mountain for various reasons.

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Another sherpa climber has climbed Mount Qomolangma 27 times, the most summits after Kami Rita.

Mountain climbing is a key tourism activity, source of revenue and employment in Nepal, home to eight of the world’s 14 highest peaks.

Details of Kami Rita’s climb early on Wednesday were awaited, officials said.