Nepali Sherpa equals the altitude record for Mount Everest

May 15, 2023 | 16:31:23

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On Sunday, a Nepali sherpa guide ascended Mount Everest for the 26th time, according to hiking officials, making him the second person in the world to accomplish the feat. According to Bigyan Koirala, a government tourism official, 46-year-old Pasang Dawa Sherpa shared the record for summits with Kami Rita Sherpa as they stood atop the 8,849-meter (29,032-foot) peak. If Kami Rita, who is currently ascending Everest, reaches the summit, he might break yet another record. According to a representative of Pasang Dawa’s employer, the hiking company Imagine Nepal Treks, he reached the summit with a Hungarian client.

According to the official, Dawa Futi Sherpa, “They are now descending from the top and are in good shape.” Sherpas, who tend to go by their first names, are known for their climbing prowess and primarily support themselves by leading foreign tourists through the mountains.

According to Dawa Futi, Naila Kiani, a Pakistani woman who also scaled the mountain on Sunday, became the first foreign climber to reach the summit of Everest during the climbing season, which runs from March to May. Since many foreign climbers are currently making their way to the peak, one day after the top ropes were fixed, this could not be independently verified.

Before ascending Everest, Kiani, a 37-year-old banker based in Dubai, had scaled four of the fourteen highest mountains in the world, according to the Himalayan Times newspaper. This year, Nepal has granted a record number of 467 permits to foreign climbers who want to reach the summit of Everest.

Because every climber typically has at least one sherpa guide with them, there are concerns that the Hillary Step, a constrained area below the summit, might become crowded. According to a Himalayan database and Nepali officials, Everest has been scaled more than 11,000 times since it was first done so by Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay in 1953, with about 320 people losing their lives in the process.