Meet the mountaineer who has scaled Everest a record 26 times

Kami Rita Sherpa is among Nepal's most respected climbing guides. (Image credit: kamiritasherpa/Instagram)

A Nepalese climber has achieved the feat of scaling Mount Everest, the world’s highest peak, 26 times, shattering his own record of 25 climbs.

Kami Rita Sherpa led a team of 10 mountain climbers to the 8,849-metre summit on Saturday, Kathmandu based mountaineering company Seven Summit Treks tweeted.

Rita, 52, had first climbed the Mount Everest in 1994 and since then, has been undertaking yearly expeditions to the peak, news agency AP reported.

He took after his father, who was among Nepal’s first Sherpa guides. Rita guides foreign climbers who visit Nepal every year to scale the Mount Everest.

Rita has also undertaken other daring expeditions -- climbing K-2, Manaslu, Cho-Oyu and Lhotse peaks. He holds the record for climbing peaks over 8,000-metres-high the maximum number of times.

“Kami Rita Sherpa climbed Mount Everest for the 26th time and once again broke his record. Congratulations to the good people of Nepal and the heroic Sherpas who climb the Himalayas,” said Seven Summit Treks, with whom he works a senior climbing guide.

Rita received congratulatory messages from around the world.

Hundreds of adventure-seekers come to Nepal every year in the hopes of scaling eight of the world’s highest peaks.

The country had shut down mountaineering in 2020 because of the coronavirus crisis. The activity resumed in 2021.

This climbing season, the Nepal government has given out permits to 918 mountaineers, news agency AFP reported. Over 300 permits are for Mount Everest.

Expedition organisers in the country are hoping for a busier season now that COVID-19 cases are declining.

(With inputs from AP and AFP)