Sherpa climbs Mount Everest for a record 23rd time
Sherpa Kami Rita has broken his own record for the most successful climbs of the world's highest peak.
Mr Rita climbed to the top of Mount Everest for the 23rd time.
According to the Nepalese government, he reached the peak with other climbers on Wednesday morning and they were all reported to be safe.
"It is my profession, but at the same time I am setting a new world record for Nepal, too," Mr Rita said last month before his trip to the mountain.
The 49-year-old first climbed Everest in 1994 and has been making trips nearly every year since.
His father was among the first Sherpa guides employed to help other climbers reach the summit.
Mr Rita has scaled several other peaks that are among the world's highest, including K2, Cho Oyu, Manaslu and Lhotse.
In 2015, he was at an Everest base camp when an avalanche swept through and killed 19 people.
After that event, his family pressured him to quit mountaineering altogether, but he decided against it.
"I know Mount Everest very well, having climbed it 22 times, but at the same time I know I may or may not come back," he said last month.
"I am like a soldier who leaves behind their wives, children and family to battle for the pride of the country."
The Sherpa's two closest friends have climbed the peak 21 times each, but they have both now retired from mountain climbing.
Mr Rita said that before climbers reach the summit to take their photographs announcing their success, there are months of hard work carried out by Sherpas.
The Sherpas take care of setting up the camps, carrying the loads on their backs, cooking food and carrying oxygen tanks.
Each year they fix ropes and ladders over crevasses and icefalls to make things safer for the hundreds of climbers who head to Nepal each year seeking to reach the peak.
"However, when these climbers reach the summit, only their names are highlighted and nothing mentioned about the hard work done by the Sherpas," Mr Rita said last month.
Mr Rita says he will try and climb the peak two more times.
