Sherpa guide breaks Everest record for most climbs – the second time this month

He also climbed Mount Everest twice last year

Nepal Everest (Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

Renowned Sherpa Kami Rita has scaled Mount Everest for a record 30th time Wednesday, completing his second climb this month to the top of the world.

Rita reached the 8,849-meter (29,032-foot) summit at 7:49 am, according to Khim Lal Gautam, a government official at the base camp.

His first ascent of this year's climbing season was on May 12 guiding foreign clients.

He also climbed Mount Everest twice last year, setting the record for most climbs of the world's highest mountain on the first and extending it less than a week later.

His closest competitor for the most climbs of Mount Everest is fellow Sherpa guide Pasang Dawa, who has 27 successful ascents of the mountain.

Veteran Sherpa guide Kami Rita returning after scaling Mount Everest for the 28th time (Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

Rita first climbed Everest in 1994 and has been making the trip nearly every year since. He is one of many Sherpa guides whose expertise and skills are vital to the safety and success each year of foreign climbers who seek to stand on top of the mountain.

His father was among the first Sherpa guides. In addition to his Everest climbs, Kami Rita has scaled several other peaks that are among the world’s highest, including K2, Cho Oyu, Manaslu and Lhotse.

Officials said more than 450 climbers have already scaled Mount Everest from the Nepali side of the peak in the south this climbing season, which ends in a few days.

Nepalese authorities issued hundreds of climbing permits to foreign climbers. At least as many local Sherpa guides will be accompanying them during the climbing season.

Kanchha Sherpa speaks to Associated press during an interview at his residence in Kathmandu, Nepal (Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

Earlier this year the only surviving member of the mountaineering expedition that first conquered Mount Everest said that the world’s highest peak is too crowded and dirty, and the mountain is a god that needs to be respected.

Kanchha Sherpa, 91, was among the 35 members in the team that put New Zealander Edmund Hillary and his Sherpa guide Tenzing Norgay atop the 8,849-meter (29,032-foot) peak on May 29, 1953.

“It would be better for the mountain to reduce the number of climbers,” Kanchha said, “Right now there is always a big crowd of people at the summit.”

Since the first conquest, the peak has been climbed thousands of times, and it gets more crowded every year. During the spring climbing season in 2023, 667 climbers scaled the peak, but that brought in thousands of support staff to the base camp between the months of March and May.