Nepalese Sherpa Kami Rita scales Mount Everest for record 25th time
09 May, 2021
A Nepalese mountain guide has broken his own record for the most summits of the world's highest peak.
Kami Rita, 51, a Sherpa, successfully scaled Mount Everest on May 7. It was the veteran mountaineer's 25th visit to the peak of Sagarmatha.
Rita is also one of the first climbers to attain the new altitude - that is 0.86 metres higher - of the world's highest mountain. It was officially changed this past year, after Nepal and China jointly announced an updated height of 8,848.86 metres.
Joined by 11 other Sherpas, all Nepalese, Rita and his team were tasked with fixing ropes on the mountain's icy passes to permit other climbers to try and summit Sagarmatha later this month.
Within a team from Seven Summit Treks, beneath the management of Expedition Operators of Nepal, the Sherpas reached the summit of the 50-million-year-old mountain at 6pm on Friday.
"I may have achieved my lifelong imagine climbing Everest for the 25th time, but there is a lot more to go. This marks the start of a fresh era," wrote Rita on Instagram.
The Sherpa has been climbing Everest for 27 years, having first ascended in 1994. On Saturday, May 8, he wrote on Facebook that he and the team had managed to get successfully back again to base camp.
Nicknamed Thapke, Rita has a Guinness World Record for the most summits of Everest, which he was awarded on May 21, 2019, after tackling the mountain for the 24th time. That achievement came under a week after his 23rd summit of Everest on May 15, 2019.
The global pandemic has meant the mountaineer had to hold back about two years in order to make his 25th record-breaking summit attempt. With the ropes now set up, however, the 2021 summit route is officially open.
Mount Everest was closed to climbers this past year as a result of the coronavirus. This year, Nepal has issued a restricted number of climbing permits for all those hoping to summit the peak. To date, a lot more than 400 permits have already been issued to foreigners planning to climb Everest's southern side.
The north side of the mountain, which is situated in China, remains largely restricted with only a small number of permits being issued and strict Covid-19 testing measures set up.
Source: www.thenationalnews.com
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