British climber Kenton Cool reached the summit of Everest for the 20th time this Friday (22) and extended his own record for ascents to the highest mountain in the world by a non-Nepali person.
More than 600 climbers have reached the summit since the northern hemisphere’s spring climbing season began this month, taking advantage of a brief window of good weather and milder winds.
“It was reported that he reached the summit of Mount Everest early today,” said Khim Lal Gautam, a government official at the base camp.
Cool, a 52-year-old mountain guide, first climbed the 8,849-meter Everest in 2004 and has been on an expedition almost every year since.
The path was not easy. In 1996, he fractured both heels in a rock climbing accident and his doctors said he would not be able to walk again without help.
Still, in 2022, he became the non-Nepali with the highest number of ascents of Everest (16), surpassing the American Dave Hahn, with whom he had tied a year earlier.
However, as he explained after this achievement, he does not consider this something “so extraordinary” compared to the achievements of the Nepalese.
Seven climbers from that Himalayan country have accumulated more than 20 climbs. The absolute record is 32 climbs, achieved last week by Kami Rita Sherpa, nicknamed the “Everest Man”.
“I’m really surprised by the interest (…) considering so many Sherpas have so many more ascensions,” Cool said in 2022.
This season, Nepal has issued a record 492 permits to mountaineers. At the foot of Everest, a city of shacks was installed to house foreign climbers and support teams.
Those numbers have reignited concerns about overcrowding at the world’s highest point, especially if bad weather reduces the window available for climbing.
On Wednesday (20), an estimated 275 people reached the summit, on the busiest day ever recorded on the south side of the mountain.
Three Nepalese climbers participating in expeditions to Everest have died this season.
Nepal is home to eight of the ten highest peaks in the world and welcomes hundreds of climbers every spring, in an extremely profitable activity for the country.
