Sherpa guide Kami Rita climbs Mount Everest for her record 30th time, her second this month

KATHMANDU, Nepal — Renowned sherpa mountain guide Kami Rita climbed Mount Everest for the 30th time on Wednesday, completing his second ascent this month to the top of the world.

Rita reached the 29,032-foot summit at 7:49 a.m., according to Khim Lal Gautam, a government official at the base camp.

His first ascent of this year’s climbing season took place on May 12, guiding foreign clients.

“He is healthy and happy to have achieved this record,” said Mingma Sherpa of Seven Summits Treks, which organized the expedition.

They were able to speak to him briefly while he was at the top and in good health, Mingma said.

Rita was still descending to the lower camps of the mountain, and Mingma confirmed that Rita would not be climbing again this season and would likely return home in the coming days.

He also climbed Mount Everest twice last year, setting the record for the most ascents of the world’s highest mountain the first time and extending it less than a week later.

His closest competitor for the most Mount Everest ascents is fellow Sherpa guide Pasang Dawa, who has 27 successful ascents of the mountain.

Rita first climbed Everest in 1994 and has made the trip almost every year since. He is one of many Sherpa guides whose expertise and skills are critical to the safety and success each year of foreign climbers seeking to reach the mountain’s summit.

His father was among the first Sherpa guides. In addition to her Everest ascents, Kami Rita has climbed several other of the world’s highest peaks, including K2, Cho Oyu, Manaslu and Lhotse.

Authorities said more than 450 climbers had already scaled Mount Everest from the Nepalese side of the summit in the south during this climbing season, which ends in a few days. Most climbs of Everest and neighboring Himalayan peaks are done in April and May, when weather conditions are most favorable.

This season, Nepalese authorities issued hundreds of climbing permits to foreign climbers, and at least as many local Sherpa guides accompanied them.

The mountain can also be climbed from China. The official Xinhua news agency reported that Wang Jian, 70, reached the summit on Tuesday, becoming the oldest Chinese person to do so.

Everest was first climbed in 1953 by New Zealander Edmund Hillary and Nepalese Sherpa Tenzing Norgay.