Nepal mountaineer climbs Mt.Everest for 23rd time

A Nepalese Sherpa climber on Wednesday reached atop Mount Everest for the 23rd time, becoming the only mountaineer in the world to hold the record for most summits on the world's highest mountain.

According to Mingma Sherpa, Company Chairman at Seven Summit Treks, Kami Rita Sherpa, 49, from Thame village of Solukhumbu district successfully reached the top of Everest at around 7.50 a.m., breaking his own record for most summits on the roof of the world, reports The Himalayan Times.

On May 16, 2018, Kami Rita made history by summiting Everest for the 22nd time.

According to base camp officials, Kami Rita started his summit from Camp IV on Tuesday night and reached the summit point on Wednesday morning.

Kami Rita has already climbed most of the peaks above 8,000 metres including K2, Cho-oyu, Lhoste and Annapurna among others.

"The climbers have now been descending to the lower camps safely," Mingma Sherpa told The Himalayan Times.

Kami Rita made his first ascent of the giant peak in 1994 when he was 24 years old. One of his 23 climbs was made from the Chinese side in 2016. He plans to reach the summit at least 25 times.

"I have a goal to climb Everest for 25th time - or maybe more than that," he told Efe news in April before leaving for his expedition.

The 2019 Everest climbing season officially began on Tuesday with eight Nepali climbing guides making it to the peak.

These highly-skilled mountaineers prepare the route to the top of the 8,848m mountain for other climbers.

This season, nearly 1,000 people, including 378 paying climbers, will attempt the summit.

--IANS

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