Breaking his own record, Nepali climber Kami Rita Sherpa scaled Mount Everest for the 25th time on Friday, for the most times on top of the world's tallest mountain.
"Sherpa reached the summit of Mt. Qomolangma at 6 pm. local time on Friday," Mira Acharya, director of Nepal's Department of Tourism, "It is his 25th summit on the mountain," the official said.
Kami was part of a 12-person team fixing the ropes to the summit. He was the first of hundreds of climbers expected to make it to the top in the coming weeks.
Kami has served as a guide for more than two decades. He first stood atop the 8,849 meter (29,032 feet) high mountain in 1994 as part of a commercial expedition. He has gone up to the top almost every year since.
"It isn't about breaking records…my aim was to celebrate my silver jubilee by climbing 25 times in 2020 at the age of 50, but COVID didn't let that happen. So this year I will make my dream come true," Kami said.
The climber has also made his name on other mountains, including summiting the world's second-highest peak, K2, in Pakistan. He plans to go back to the summit later this year, as a guide for a royal Bahrain team. "I climb for my nation. Guides like us are necessary for the tourism sector of Nepal. Without us, foreigners wouldn't come," said Kami.
Though the pandemic is still raging in Nepal and the other parts of the world, the Nepali government greenlighted mountaineering this spring and issued a record 408 climbing permits, according to the Department of Tourism.
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