(Photo : NISHA BHANDARI/AFP via Getty Images)
Nepali guide Kami Rita Sherpa who reached the top of Mount Everest on May 23, 2023, for a record 28th time gestures to the crowd upon arriving at the Tribhuvan airport in Kathmandu on May 25, 2023. A guide for more than two decades and known as the "Everest Man", Kami Rita Sherpa, 53, first summited Everest in 1994 when he was working for a commercial expedition.
Sherpa mountain guide Kami Rita summited Mount Everest for the 30th time, on Wednesday, breaking his own record for the most ascents by one person.
"He is in good health and happy to have achieved this record," said Mingma Sherpa, a fellow mountaineer, whose company organized the record-setting expedition, according to the Associated Press.
Rita, 54, reached the 29,032-foot summit at 7:49 a.m., Nepalese officials announced. This follows a May 12 ascent that he undertook while guiding foreigners up the mountain. He first broke the ascent record in 2023 - when he ascended the world's highest peak twice.
Following his 29th climb, Rita told AFP that he was "glad for the record, but records are eventually broken. I am more happy that my climbs help Nepal be recognized in the world."
Rita's father was one of the original sherpa guides and his brother has scaled the mountain 17 times. Rita has been critical of the Nepali government's treatment of Sherpas, arguing in 2018 that while the ethnic group is "famed around the world" their government "doesn't care" about their wellbeing.
Rita's closest competition for the most Everest ascents is fellow Sherpa Pasang Dawa, who has climbed the mountain 27 times.
