By Gopal Sharma
KATHMANDU (Reuters) – A Nepali sherpa guide topped the summit of 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 Everest, and it is very rare for mountaineers to make multiple ascents in a short time.
Kami Rita Sherpa, 54, reached the 8,849-metre (29,032 foot) peak by the traditional southeast ridge route, Nepali tourism official Khim Lal Gautam said.
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 Everest in 1994, and has done so almost every year since, except for three years when authorities closed the mountain for various reasons.
Another sherpa climber has climbed Everest 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.
(Reporting by Gopal Sharma; Editing by YP Rajesh and Gerry Doyle)
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