Nepal’s mountaineer Kami Rita Sherpa climbs Mt Everest for 32nd time, beats own record
Kathmandu, May 17: Nepal’s mountaineer Kami Rita Sherpa made history on Sunday by breaking his own world record for the maximum number of ascents of Mt Everest as he scaled the world’s highest peak for the 32nd time.
The 56-year-old veteran climber, popularly known as ‘Everest Man’, reached the 8,848.86-metre peak (29,032 feet) at 10:12 am, according to the Department of Tourism here.
He was leading an expedition operated by 14 Peaks Expedition, it said.
The successful ascent was confirmed by the department’s field office stationed at Everest Base Camp, reported The Kathmandu Post.
Born in Thame village of Solukhumbu district in Koshi Province in January 1970, Kami Rita started his career as a professional mountaineer in 1992 and climbed Mt Everest for the first time in 1994.
Kami Rita had climbed Sagarmatha, as the peak is known in Nepali, twice each in 2023 and 2024. He scaled it for the 31st time on May 27, 2025, Between 1994 and 2025, Kami Rita also scaled K2 and Mt Lhotse once, Manaslu thrice, and Cho Oyu eight times, all above 8,000 metres.
In a related development, Lhakpa Sherpa, also known as the ‘Mountain Queen’ and the first Nepali woman to summit Mt Everest, broke her own world record by completing her 11th successful ascent of the peak on Sunday.
She reached the peak at 9:30 am, the Department of Tourism said.
Kami Rita’s peers congratulated him on the achievement too. According to Ang Tshering Sherpa, past president of the Nepal Mountaineering Association, “Kami Rita is not only a strong climber, but he also has good technical skill in the field of mountaineering.” Without being a strong and dedicated climber, one cannot scale Everest for 32 times, said Ang Tshering, who is also the immediate past president of Asian Mountaineering and Climbing Federation.
Kami Rita, Appa and Ang Rita belong to the same area of Solukhumbu district, which has produced many strong summitters.
Ang Rita set a world record by climbing Everest 10 times without supplementary oxygen, whereas Appa has scaled the highest peak in the world 21 times.
Mount Everest, northeast of Kathmandu, is situated along the Nepal-Tibet (China) border, and can be climbed from both north and south sides. (PTI)
