A Nepalese Sherpa has set a record for the greatest number of successful summits of Mount Everest – reaching the top for the 24th time today.
Incredibly, it is the second summit of the 8,484m mountain Kami Rita Sherpa, 49, has made within the past seven days, breaking his own record for the most ascents.
Rita Sherpa has said he plans to keep climbing the world’s tallest mountain until he turns 60, despite pleas from his wife.
“I keep telling him we could look for other jobs, [such as to] start a small business,” said Lakpa Jangmu. “But he does not listen to me at all.”
Working for mountaineering company Seven Summit Treks, his latest ascent came leading an 11-member Indian police team.
He told the EFE news agency he got into climbing to support his wife and two young children.
“We were illiterate and poor and there were no other means of survival,” he said. “As a result, we were compelled to climb dangerous mountains to eke out a living.”
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Rita Sherpa reportedly earns around $10,000 (£7,863) per climb due to his vast experience and says his earnings will pay for his children’s education and allow them to choose less dangerous jobs.
He grew up in an impoverished family in the remote village of Thame, also home to Tenzing Norgay, the first to climb the mountain alongside Edmund Hillary in 1953.
Rita Sherpa attributed Norgay’s fame as motivation for getting a job as a porter, transporting the belongings of foreign climbers to Everest Base Camp when he was just 12-years-old.
He then made his first summit in 1994 at the age of 24.
Nearly 1,000 people are expected to attempt to climb Mount Everest during 2019.
The Nepalese government only permits several weeks in May for summit ascents, as the weather in winter is too cold and the monsoon makes summer too dangerous.
Sherpas are employed by mountaineers to assist in their climbs, planning and leading the route, fixing guide ropes and carrying supplies and oxygen.
However, these jobs are perilous and one-third of the 298 people who have died on Mount Everest were Sherpas.