A Nepalese Sherpa scaled Mount Everest for a record 26th time, beating his own previous record set last year, a government official said on Sunday.

Kami Rita Sherpa, 52, scaled the 8,848.86-metre mountain on Saturday along the traditional southeast ridge route leading 10 other Sherpa climbers.

“Kami Rita has broken his own record and established a new world record in climbing,” said Taranath Adhikari, director general of the department of tourism in capital Kathmandu.

Kami Rita’s wife, who gave her name as Jangmu said she was happy over the achievement of her husband.

The climbing route used by Kami Rita was pioneered by New Zealander Sir Edmund Hillary and Nepal’s sherpa Tenzing Norgay in 1953 and remains the most popular.

This year Nepal has issued 316 permits to climb Everest in the peak season, which runs through May, compared with 408 last year, the highest ever.

The Himalayan nation, which is heavily reliant on climbers for foreign exchange, faced criticism for allowing overcrowding and several climber deaths on the mountains in 2019.

Everest has been climbed 10,657 times since it was first scaled in 1953 from Nepali and Tibetan sides – many have climbed multiple times, and 311 people have died so far, according to the Himalayan database.

Eleven Nepali climbers reached the top of Mount Everest on Saturday, the first of hundreds of climbers expected to summit the world’s highest mountain from its southern approach in the coming weeks.

“Some people chase records, but I have not been doing this for records,” Kami Rita Sherpa said in an interview with AFP in March, before heading off to Everest.

“I think about how we can increase tourism in Nepal, what can we do for more mountain climbers to come here and how can we satisfy them and make them happy.”

The 52-year-old followed in his father’s footsteps and became a mountain guide, first summiting the peak in 1994. He has climbed Everest almost every year since.

According to hindustantimes.com. Source of photo: internet