Sherpa climbs Everest twice in a week for record 24th

Only last week Nepali mountain guide Kami Rita Sherpa set a new record by climbing Everest a 23rd time. On Tuesday for good measure he did it again, expedition organisers said. “This is historic. He made his record climb this morning, guiding a team of Indian police,” Mingma Sherpa of Seven Summit Treks told AFP.

A guide for more than two decades, Sherpa first summited the 8,848-metre (29,029-foot) peak, the world’s highest, in 1994 while working for a commercial expedition. In the 25 years since, the 49-year-old has made 35 summits on five 8,000-metre peaks, including the world’s second-highest mountain, K2 in Pakistan. Last year he ascended Everest for the 22nd time, breaking the previous record of 21 summits he shared with two other Sherpa climbers, both of whom have retired.

Returning last week to a colourful welcome at base camp after his 23rd climb, Sherpa had already said that he wanted to go up for a second time this season. “I am very happy and proud, I think I might go up the mountain again this season,” he had said over a crackly phone line after his descent.

The accomplished climber has often said he did not intend to make records, but accumulated his summits in course of his work as a guide. “I did not climb for world records, I was just working. I did not even know you could set records earlier,” he said last month before setting off for Everest base camp.