30 times on top of the world
INFOGRAPHICS THE PRESS
Mountaineer Kami Rita Sherpa makes history: he is the first person to have climbed Everest, the highest mountain in the world, 30 times, at an altitude of 8,849 meters. He had just climbed the mountain for the 29e times earlier this month. “This morning at 7:49 a.m., Kami Rita Sherpa broke the record he himself had set nine days earlier. This is his 30e rise to the top of the world,” Khimlal Gautam, head of the field office responsible for monitoring and facilitating expeditions, confirmed to AFP.
Help Nepal
PHOTO NIRANJAN SHRESTHA, ASSOCIATED PRESS
The summit of Mount Everest seen from Namche Bajar, Nepal
54-year-old mountaineer and guide, Kami Rita Sherpa has been accompanying clients on Everest since 1992, and reached the summit for the first time in 1994. “I am happy with this record, but records are eventually broken,” he said. he declared on May 12. The fact that my climbs are helping Nepal to be recognized in the world pleases me even more. » His exploits are not limited to Everest: the mountaineer has also climbed other peaks which are among the highest on the globe, including K2, Cho Oyu, Lhotse and Manaslu.
Twice in six days
PHOTO NIRANJAN SHRESTHA, ASSOCIATED PRESS ARCHIVES
Kami Rita Sherpa and his wife in 2018, in their apartment in Kathmandu. At the time, he had climbed Everest twenty-one times; he was one of three people to accomplish this feat.
The famous mountain no longer holds any secrets for the man we call “Mister Everest”. As of 2023, Kami Rita Sherpa has climbed to the summit of Everest twice, each time breaking a new record after being caught by another guide, Pasang Dawa Sherpa. In 2019, he summited Everest twice in the space of six days. “Some people chase records, but I don’t do it for records,” Kami Rita Sherpa said at the time. Climbing to the top is his livelihood, he recalled.
Mountain under pressure
PHOTO PURNIMA SHRESTHA, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE ARCHIVES
Everest base camp, last April
The Nepalese government has in recent years increased the number of permits issued to commercial teams who want to try to reach peaks in the Himalayan range. This year, Nepal has issued more than 900 permits to climb its mountains – including 419 for Everest – to foreign mountaineers who, for the most part, climb accompanied by a Nepalese guide. Around 500 foreign and Nepalese climbers have already reached the summit of Everest since April, the start of the climbing season which lasts until June.
” Too much people “
PHOTO NIRANJAN SHRESTHA, ASSOCIATED PRESS ARCHIVES
Kanchha Sherpa, 91, the only surviving member of the mountaineering expedition that first reached the summit of Mount Everest, in an interview with The Associated Press last March
The only surviving member of the mountaineering expedition that first reached the summit of Mount Everest in 1953 said earlier this year that the world’s highest peak was too crowded, too dirty, and that the mountain was a god who should be respected. “It would be better for the mountain if there were fewer climbers,” Kanchha Sherpa, 91, one of 35 members of the team that helped New Zealander Edmund Hillary and his guide, told the Associated Press. Sherpa Tenzing Norgay reached the summit in 1953. Currently, there are still crowds of people at the summit. » In 2023, 667 climbers reached the summit of Everest. The increase in the number of climbers resulted in a record 18 deaths on the mountain in 2023. On average, between five and ten people die each year on Everest.
With the collaboration of Agence France-Presse