Kami Rita Sherpa, a Nepali climber born and raised in Solukhumbu district that is home to Mt. Everest, broke his own record Friday by climbing the world's highest peak for the 25th time, his expedition organizer in Kathmandu said.
"He reached the top of Mt. Everest with 11 rope-fixing Sherpas at 6 p.m.," Mingma Sherpa of Seven Summit Treks, told Kyodo News.
During Thursday's ascent, the fixing of ropes to the top of the Mt. Everest was also completed for climbers who will attempt the mountain this month.
Kami Rita, 51, stunned the mountaineering community in May 2019 when he summited Mt. Everest twice in two weeks.
Friday's climb takes him four climbs clear of members of his own Sherpa community, some of whom have scaled the 8,848.86-meter mountain 21 times.
Kami Rita set a new world record for the most climbs of the mountain in 2018 when he summited it for the 22nd time.
Since 1994, Kami Rita has climbed it almost every year. Last year, he could not meet his dream of recording the 25th ascent because the coronavirus pandemic led to cancellation of the spring climbing season, which offers favorable weather windows and is therefore popular for scaling the peak that straddles Nepal and China.
Hundreds of mountaineers are acclimatizing on the lower slopes, hoping to take advantage of favorable weather windows in the coming days.
Nepal is home to eight of the world's 14 mountains that are taller than 8,000 meters.
It has issued 408 climbing permits for Mt. Everest for the spring season that lasts until the end of May.
