Kami Rita Sherpa climbs Mount Everest for record 32nd time at age 56

On Sunday, May 17, 56-year-old Nepali climber Kami Rita Sherpa walked onto the summit of Mount Everest for the 32nd time. He extended a world record that already sounded impossible. Just another ascent for the man the mountaineering world calls “Everest Man.”

Everest man Kami Rita Sherpa does the impossible again

Kami Rita arrived at the 8,849-metre peak at approximately 10:12 am local time while guiding a commercial expedition arranged by 14 Peaks Expedition. As stated by Nepal’s tourism officials, he was leading a group of international climbers together with a team of fellow Sherpas, who form the unseen labor force supporting the Himalayan adventure industry.

Who is Kami Rita Sherpa?

Born in Thame village in Nepal’s Khumbu region, Kami Rita grew up in a mountaineering family. Khumbu is the same rugged Himalayan landscape that produced Everest legends like Tenzing Norgay. His father was among the first professional Sherpa guides after Everest opened to foreign climbers back in the 1950s. Mount Everest was never just a bucket-list fantasy for him. It was work, inheritance and survival.

He first summited Everest in 1994 while working for a commercial expedition. Since then, he has climbed the peak nearly every year, sometimes twice in a single season. Over the decades, he has also summited other Himalayan giants including K2, Cho Oyu, Lhotse, and Manaslu. But Everest became his signature.

This climb also coincided with Lhakpa Sherpa completing her 11th Everest summit and extending her own record as the woman with the most Everest ascents in history.

Kami Rita’s every new ascent triggers the same stunned headlines: “Again?” “Still climbing?” “How is this possible?” But perhaps the more interesting question is why the outside world still treats Sherpa excellence as surprising.

For many in Nepal, Kami Rita represents labour elevated into legend. Thirty-two Everest summits sounds like folklore. The kind future generations will assume was exaggerated. Except this one comes with GPS coordinates, oxygen cylinders, and boot prints in the snow.

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