Dual world records marked on Mount Everest

Mount Everest saw two record-breaking climbs on Sunday with a Nepali sherpa making the most ever summits and a British climber setting the record for a foreigner.

Kami Rita Sherpa, 54, scaled the world’s tallest mountain for a 29th time while British man Kenton Cool marked his 18th peak.

Sherpa, already the world-record holder, beat his own landmark in setting the new standard.

A guide for over two decades, he first climbed the summit in 1994 and has made the peak almost every year since.

The climbing season has just started on Mount Everest, which is expecting hundreds of climbers to make the trek over the coming weeks.

Sherpa reached the 8,849m (29,000ft) summit on Sunday at about 07:30 local time (1:45GMT).

Last week, he had posted to Instagram from Everest base camp saying he was back to try a 29th summit “to the top of the world”.

“One man’s job, another man/woman’s dream”, he wrote.

The sherpa has previously told media how his climbs are just work – but he did do the trek twice last year to reclaim his crown from long-time rival and compatriot Pasang Dawa Sherpa.

Local authorities said Mr Cool, from Gloucestershire, had also summited on Sunday.

The British man is also a mountaineering guide and has previously played down his achievements, telling AFP news agency in 2022 that “so many of the Sherpas have so many more ascents”.

Lhakpa Sherpa is the woman who has made the most ever climbs of Mount Everest, crowd-funding her world-record 10th climb in 2022.

Nepal’s government has issued about 400 mountaineering permits to climbers this year for the spring season which runs from April to June. Almost all climbers are accompanied by a local guide meaning about 800 people are expected to make the ascent.

More than 600 people made it to the peak last year. But it was also one of the deadliest climbing seasons- with 18 deaths recorded on the mountain.