Who is Kami Rita Sherpa?
KAMI Rita Sherpa holds the record for most ascents to the summit of Mount Everest.
His Everest climbs have captivated the mountaineering community.
Who is Kami Rita Sherpa?
Kami Rita is a Sherpa guide born on January 17, 1979 in Thame, Solukhumbu District of Nepal.
The Sherpa are one of the Tibetan groups who are native to the most mountainous regions of Nepal numbering around 150,000.
Sherpas are known to be excellent climbers due to their ability to use oxygen efficiently alongside having superior strength and endurance.
This has been no different for Kami Rita who at only 12 years old began working as a porter at the Everest base camp.
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Mountaineering ran in his family with his father being among the first professional Sherpa guides and his brother, Lakpa, also a key Everest guide.
By the time Kami Rita was 24 he had scaled Everest becoming one of the youngest climbers in the world.
Kami Rita has also completed at Cho-Oyu, Lhotse and K2 and holds the record for the most 8,000 metre summits.
How many times has Kami Rita Sherpa climbed Mount Everest?
Kami Rita became the third person to ascend Everest summit 21 times in 2017 – sharing the record with Phurba Tashi and Apa Sherpa.
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Not content with sharing world records, Rita then became the first person to climb Everest 22 times in 2018 at 48.
In 2021, Kami Rita smashed his own record of reaching the ascent 25 times and again in 2022 26 times.
The race was on however as fellow Sherpa Pasang Dawa also completed the Everest summit 26 times spurring on Kami Rita to reclaim his title and completing the Mount Everest climb a staggering 27 times on May 17, 2023.
Speaking of his incredible achievement, Rita said that he wanted to do it “not just for myself but for my family, the Sherpa people and for my country, Nepal”.
Is Kami Rita Sherpa married and does he have children?
Kami Rita is married to Lakpa Jangmu who’s not afraid to express her concern at her husband’s dangerous career.
She said: “I keep telling him we could look for other jobs, start a small business. But he does not listen to me at all”.
The couple have two children together and are based in Kathmandu.