A Sherpa guide has scaled Mount Everest for the 25th time, breaking his own record for the most ascents of the world's highest peak.
Kami Rita and 11 other Sherpa guides are the first group of climbers to reach the summit this year and were fixing the ropes on the icy route so hundreds of other climbers can scale the peak later this month, according to the Department of Tourism.
Everest was closed to climbing last year on both its southern side, which is in Nepal, and its northern side, which is in China, because of the coronavirus pandemic. Nepal has issued climbing permits this year to 408 foreign climbers despite a surging Covid-19 outbreak. China has opened the northern slope to only a few dozen mountaineers who will be tested for the coronavirus and must keep their distance while climbing.
Rita, 51, first scaled Everest in 1994 and has been making the trip nearly every year since then. He is one of many Sherpa guides whose expertise and skills are vital to the safety and success of the hundreds of climbers who head to Nepal each year seeking to stand on top of the 8849m mountain.
