Nepal Calls You

Kami Rita Sherpa scaled Mt. Everest for the 23rd timeMay 16, 2019

Nepali Sherpa broke his own record and is untouched as the man who has summited Everest the most number of times.

Kami, a soft-spoken, gregarious and smiling face is an affable man. At the age of 49, he is lean and wiry, with a forehead burnt brown from the sun. But his amiable manner contradicts his accomplishments.

In the morning Wednesday, May 15, Sherpa scaled Mount Everest for the 23rd time, with his he broke his own record for the most ascents of the world’s highest peak. On the mountain, Kami Rita is seemingly invincible. Despite his unparalleled feats of skill and endurance on the world’s highest peak, he remains modest.

Ascending is my duty," Kami had told the Post in April before he returned to Everest. "It's not about the bucks, rather I enjoy working/walking on the mountains.”

Born and bred up in Thame village of Solukhumbu, Everest region cast a long shadow over the lives of Sherpas like Kami Rita. And so, it was no wonder when he took to the mountain in his early teens. At 12, he used to ferry loaded backpacks to Everest Base Camp as a porter.

But Kami Rita, like most others guys from his hometown, always dreamt of climbing the roof of the world, world’s highest peak: Everest. He was always fancy to follow in the footsteps of Tenzing Norgay, the first man, alongside Edmund Hillary, to scale Everest ever in the history. He started relatively small, in 1992, when his elder brother Lakpa Rita gave him an opportunity to climb mountains up to 8,000m tall. At that time, you couldn’t climb Everest without climbing eight-thousanders at least two to three times, said Kami Rita.

Finally, in 1994 AD, after climbing numbers of other peaks, at the age of 24 years, Kami Rita ascended Everest for the first time. “The first time was difficult. But, soon it started becoming easier,” he said. Since then, He has never looked back, becoming a seasoned high altitude climbing guide who demand is high and growing in an exponential manner. He currently works for Seven Summit Treks with Rs 3 million as an annual salary.

Nepal Calls You would like to extend its felicitations and best wishes to legendary mountaineer Kami Rita Sherpa. It is really a matter of honor to cover such types of self- record-breaking news.