Famed Sherpa guide Kami Rita Sherpa, who has summited Mount Everest more than any other human in recorded history, is planning to climb the world’s highest peak one more time. Sherpa has been shepherding climbers to the peak almost every year since he started working as a high altitude guide in the 1990s. Last year, Sherpa stood atop Mount Everest for the 25th time, further improving his own record.
“I’m climbing Mount Everest one more time due to my past commitments to my clients who have been waiting since 2020. If everything goes well, our target is to climb this spring,” Sherpa said in an exclusive interview with the Everest Chronicle.
Sherpa, who first climbed Everest in 1994, was planning to summit the peak twice last year. He later aborted his second attempt after reaching Camp III due to bad dreams. Sherpa, an ethnic group residing in highlands of Nepal’s northern frontiers bordering Tibet of China, are predominantly Buddhist and worship Mount Everest as the goddess of sky.
“People like us in the high risk jobs should not push our luck too hard. If you are safe, there will always be next time. The main thing is to feel good and work safely,” Sherpa had said last year right after abandoning the second summit attempt.
Sherpa will be guiding a team of American climbers this spring. The group was scheduled to climb in 2020 but couldn’t do so after Nepal imposed restrictions on mountaineering as a part of larger Covid19 restrictions. In 2021, Sherpa couldn’t manage time for the Americans as he was roped in as the main guide for a high profile expedition of Bahraini prince.
Sherpa, who has more than three decades of experience working as a high altitude worker, considers his record as a coincidence. “As a guide, my sole goal has been to guide my clients to the top and bring them down safely. The record just happened in the course of the work,” said Sherpa.
Sherpa, who is turning 52 years old, said that he plans to continue working as long as his physical state allows him to do so. His earnings from climbing helps to feed family, pay house rent in Kathmandu and provide college education to his children. Sherpa said that his love for the mountain and bond with fellow workers have also encouraged him to get going.
For high altitude workers like Sherpa, survival has been harder with the onset of the Covid19 pandemic. An estimated 2 million Nepalis were affected due to a meltdown in the tourism industry, according to official estimates. Those who used to remain busy throughout the year have been forced to lock themselves up in homes. Few others have been forced to find new jobs due to desperation. The slowdown in mountaineering activities have especially hit high altitude workers like guides, porters, support staff.
Despite promises to provide relief to tourism workers, the government has not done anything for the high altitude workers.
Sherpa said that the government should ensure a conducive environment to revive mountaineering. He said that agencies as well as climbers like him were encouraging clients to come this spring so that there is enough work for everyone.
“If 12 foreign climbers come to Nepal because of me why shouldn’t I do my job,” he said adding, “If I take a lead an additional 50-60 Sherpas get a job. That’s why I will do my climbing guide job.”
Born in Thame village of Solukhumbu in the foothills of himalayas, Kami Rita had started his career in mountaineering as a porter before jumping into climbing. Later, he switched to mountaineering after his brother, Lakpa Rita Sherpa, gave him a chance to work as a climbing guide.
Since then, he has been continuously working as a climbing guide. In the course of working as a climbing guide he has earned global fame and been awarded with multiple world records. He could have stood atop Everest more times than what he has done. But some natural disasters like snowstorms, avalanches and earthquakes hampered some of his expeditions plans whereas he missed some of the opportunities to scale the mountain twice in a season just because he has not thought much about setting records in life.
For example, in 1995 he had to return from near the summit after one of his clients suffered from acute mountain sickness. The 1996’s deadly disaster barred him from reaching the summit.
In 2014, a massive avalanche buried 16 Sherpa climbers while crossing an infamous icefall to ferry logistics for foreign clients. Kami and other Sherpas couldn’t move to the summit in the show of respect to deceased fellow Sherpa climbers. Next year or in 2015, Everest region was rattled by deadly earthquakes killing 19 climbers at the base camp.
Apart from these tragic years, Kami Rita has been giving continuity to his climbing guide.
“I could settle my life abroad as some countries have been offering me to do so,” said Kami Rita, “I’m not doing the same at least for a few years. People are getting jobs because of me and I feel proud to contribute to the nation.”
