Renowned Sherpa mountain guide Kami Rita has once again made history by scaling Mount Everest for a record 30th time. On Wednesday, at 7:49 a.m., Rita reached the 8,849-meter (29,032-foot) summit, marking his second ascent of the mountain within this month. His first climb of the current season was on May 12, where he guided foreign clients to the peak.
Khim Lal Gautam, a government official at the base camp, confirmed the successful ascent. Mingma Sherpa of the expedition company Seven Summits Treks, which organized the climb, reported that Kami Rita was in good health and spirits upon achieving this monumental feat.
Though still descending to the lower camps, it was confirmed that Rita would not be attempting another climb this season and is expected to return home shortly.
Rita, who also climbed Everest twice last year, continues to extend his record for the most ascents of the world’s highest mountain. His closest competitor is fellow Sherpa guide Pasang Dawa, who has reached the summit 27 times.
Kami Rita first climbed Everest in 1994 and has made the journey nearly every year since, contributing seriously to the success and safety of numerous expeditions.
His father was among the pioneering Sherpa guides, and Rita himself has also scaled several other of the world’s highest peaks, including K2, Cho Oyu, Manaslu, and Lhotse.
This climbing season, which ends soon, has already seen more than 450 climbers reach the summit from the Nepali side. Nepalese authorities issued hundreds of climbing permits to foreign climbers, each accompanied by local Sherpa guides. Climbing Mount Everest is typically undertaken in April and May when the weather conditions are most favorable.
The mountain, first summited in 1953 by Edmund Hillary of New Zealand and Nepali Sherpa Tenzing Norgay, remains a coveted challenge for climbers worldwide. 70-year-old Wang Jian became the oldest Chinese person to reach the summit on Tuesday, according to the official Xinhua news agency.