Neither 20 nor 30: These are the times Kami Rita has reached the summit of Everest to make an unbeatable record

Mount Everest is considered one of the ultimate challenges, testing one physically and mentally to overcome fear and adversity. Currently over 800 people attempt to reach the summit every year but only between 60 and 70 percent of them make it.

As of December 2024, over 7,200 individuals have completed the ascent, since Edmund Hillary from New Zealand and Tenzing Norgay, a Sherpa from Nepal, first successfully stood atop Mount Everest on 29 May, 1953. However, one climber has done so more times than any other by a mile.

Kami Rita sets new record on Mount Everest

Kami Rita, 55, reached the summit of Mount Everest once again early in the morning on Tuesday with a group of clients. A few days prior the famed Sherpa guide, who began climbing the mountain in 1994, had made a go for the peak but was turned back by bad weather.

You may also be interested in: The method for climbing Everest in a week that has doctors up in arms

The ascent was his 31st successful climb to the top of the world’s highest mountain, a new record. The previous record was his own, having reached the 29,032-foot (8,849-meter) peak twice last year. His closest competitor is fellow mountaineering guide, Pasang Dawa Sherpa, who has successfully ascended to the peak 29 times.

Rita told the Associated Press before heading up the mountain that he may try to climb to the top a second time this year too. While the current climbing season is ending soon, another ‘Summit Window’, when weather conditions are most favorable, opens for a short period of time in September.

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