Sherpa Kami Rita broke his own world record on Mount Everest: in preparation for the climbing season, he climbed the highest mountain in the world for the 26th time. The mountain guide already holds the record for climbing Mount Everest since reaching the summit for the 22nd time in 2018.

Kami Rita, 52, started as a mountain guide in 1994, a profession his father also practiced. He’s made the trip almost every year since then. For a while he shared the record for the most climbs with two others, but he was alone for four years.

Kami Rita had already wanted to try to reach the summit for the 26th time last year, his second climb of the season, but canceled the 7km attempt due to a nightmare. He didn’t want to give details, but “the gods told me not to go.”

Yesterday he and ten others embarked on the climbing path on the southeast slope, the same route that Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary used in 1953 to be the first to reach the summit of Everest. May is traditionally considered the peak climbing season, because it is less cold and the wind blows less hard.

pension?

A total of 316 permits were issued this season to climb Mount Everest. This is just below 408 last year, the first moment when climbing was allowed again after the Corona outbreak.

Cami Rita He said a few years ago He even had the ambition to do at least 25 climbs. It is unknown if he has plans to retire now that he has already passed that outcome. It is said that his wife wants him to look for another profession now.

Cami Rita’s work is not without danger. Three people have been killed in the Himalayas this climbing season: an experienced Greek climber, a Sherpa and a Pakistani.

Three dead

The 38-year-old Sherpa died on Mount Everest in the middle of last month, according to media reports, as he was preparing to start the climbing season. He was found dead near a camp at an altitude of 6 kilometers above the ground, and the cause of his death is not yet known.

The Greek died of exhaustion and lack of oxygen shortly after reaching the summit of Dhaulagiri, the sixth highest mountain in the world at 8,167 metres. The guy was an experienced climber: he had previously climbed five more mountains above 8000 meters. He had previously dedicated the once-fatal climb to his granddaughter in a message on Instagram.

A 52-year-old Pakistani died yesterday while trying to reach the summit of Kanchenjunga. He ignored his mentor’s advice to turn around when he was fine. He died at an altitude of about 8200 meters from a height of 8586 meters (3rd place worldwide).