Kami Rita Sherpa has broken her own record for climbing the highest mountain in the world. The Nepalese mountaineer reached the summit of Everest for the thirtieth time on Wednesday May 22, announced the organizer of his expedition. Kami Rita Sherpa “set a new record for thirty Everest ascents,” 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,” Kami Rita Sherpa said on May 12, after reaching the summit of Everest for the twenty-ninth time. “The fact that my climbs are helping Nepal gain recognition in the world makes me more happy,” he had said.
Several other summits to his credit
In 2023, he summited 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 “working”. “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 on Monday morning by his guide,” said Mohan Lamsal of Makalu Adventure. “We are working to bring down the body of the climber,” he said. 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.
Nepal has issued more than 900 permits to climb its mountains this year – including 419 for Everest – to foreign climbers, most of whom climb accompanied by a Nepali guide.
In 2023, more than 600 climbers reached the summit of Everest, which recorded a record 18 deaths.