49-yr-old Sherpa climbs Mt Everest for the 23rd time, breaks his own record

• A 49-year-old Nepalese climber, Kami Rita Sherpa, on Wednesday scaled Mount Everest for the 23rd time
  
• He broke his own record for most summits of the world’s highest mountain.
  
• This season, nearly 1,000 people, including 378 paying climbers, will attempt the summit.
  

A 49-year-old Nepalese climber, Kami Rita Sherpa scaled Mount Everest for the 23rd time on Wednesday. He broke his own record for reaching the summit of the world‘s highest mountain, maximum number of times.

Kami Rita Sherpa is a native of Thame village of Solukhumbu district. He reached the summit at a height of 29,035 feet, at 7.50 am through the Southeast Ridge route. He was accompanied by another sherpa.

He started his summit from Camp IV on Tuesday night and reached the summit point on Wednesday morning, said a basement official.

The first climbers to reach the summit in 1953— Sir Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay also took the same route.

According to the tourism department official Mira Acharya, 30 other climbers were supposed to scale the peak by Wednesday and Thursday, as the weather window opens.

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

The Journey so far
Kami Rita Sherpa wishes to climb the peak two more times, reported Reuters.

On May 16, 2018, Kami Rita had made history by scaling Mount Everest, 22 times. He already climbed most of the peaks above 8,000 metres including K2, Cho-oyu, Lhoste and Annapurna.

He made his first ascent of the giant peak in 1994 when he was 24 years old. In 2016, he climbed the mountain from China.

"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 kicked off on Tuesday with eight Nepalis 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 to scale the summit.

(With IANS)