Nepali Sherpa climber and guide Kami Rita Sherpa achieved a world record on Wednesday morning by reaching the summit of Mount Everest for the 30th time, surpassing the previous record for the most ascents by a single person. Officials from the Department of Tourism overseeing the expedition in the Himalayas of Nepal confirmed this remarkable feat. Kami Rita Sherpa made his historic 30th ascent to the top of Mount Everest at 7:49 am local time, breaking his own record set just nine days earlier. This season marks his second successful ascent, following his initial climb on May 12. Hailing from Thame village in Solukhumbu, Nepal, the 54-year-old climber has been a Senior Guide at Seven Summit Treks and has been scaling mountains for over two decades.
His mountaineering journey began as a support staff member on an Everest expedition in 1992, and since then, he has fearlessly embarked on numerous expeditions, conquering not only Mount Everest multiple times but also other formidable peaks such as K2, Cho Oyu, Lhotse, and Manaslu. Kami Rita's achievements have solidified his place as a record-setting climber with the highest number of ascents on the world's tallest peak in the 71-year-long history of Sagarmatha climbing. Despite facing the formidable challenges of scaling such peaks, Kami Rita continues to make history in the mountaineering world.
Pasang Dawa Sherpa, another renowned climber from Solukhumbu, achieved a remarkable feat by climbing Sagarmatha for the 27th time last year. However, he has chosen to take a break from this season's expedition. It's worth noting that Nepal charges $11,000 for permits for Mount Everest, with total expenses ranging between $40,000 to $90,000. The cost of an expedition increases further when unfavorable weather conditions affect the climbing window, which typically lasts for only two weeks in a year. Since the first successful ascent of Mount Everest by Tenzing Norgay Sherpa and Edmund Percival Hillary in May 1953, close to 7,000 mountaineers have achieved this remarkable feat from the Nepalese side of the mountain.
