KATHMANDU: A 54-year-old Nepali mountaineer known as “Everest Man” on Wednesday reached the peak of the world’s highest mountain for a record 30th time.
Kami Rita Sherpa broke his record after climbing the 8,849-meter mountain for the 29th time earlier this month.
He previously said that he was just working and did not plan on making new records.
His expedition organizer, Mingma Sherpa of Seven Summit Treks, told the media that Kami Rita reached the summit this morning setting a new record with 30 summits of Everest.
However, a Romanian mountaineer was pronounced dead and a British climber and Nepali guide were reported missing during the expedition.
Sherpa stood on the top of Mount Everest for the first time in 1994 when he was working on a commercial expedition. Since then he has climbed Everest almost every year as a guide.
Nepal has issued more than 900 licenses for its mountains this year, including 419 for Everest, earning more than $5 million in royalties.
This year, China also reopened its route from the Tibetan side to foreigners for the first time since closing it in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Nepal is home to eight of the world’s 10 highest mountains and receives hundreds of adventurers each spring.
Last year more than 600 mountaineers reached the summit of Everest but it was also the deadliest season on the mountain, with 18 deaths.
