A Non-Sherpa Record Atop Sagarmatha

A British climber beat his own record on Sunday for the most climbs of Sagarmatha by a non-Sherpa, making his 19th ascent of the world’s highest mountain, Reuters quoted a hiking official as saying. Britain’s Kenton Cool (51) climbed the 8,849-meter peak in the morning and was descending to lower camps, the news agency quoted Rajan Bhattarai of Nepali expedition organizing company Himalayan Guides.

Fellow climbers hailed the record as ‘legendary’. “His experience, charisma, and strength make him a valuable part of the Everest community,” said Adrian Ballinger of US-based Alpenglow Expeditions. “He’s just a great person to share stories from two decades on the mountain,” Ballinger, a nine-time summiteer of Sagarmatha now leading an expedition on the Chinese side of the mountain, told Reuters in a text message.

Cool first climbed Sagarmatha in 2004 and has since repeated the feat almost every year. On Sunday, he was accompanied by a Sherpa, Dorji Gyaljen, who logged his 23rd climb. Another Nepali, Kami Rita Sherpa, holds the record for the greatest number of ascents of Sagarmatha by any person at 30.

Cool used the Southeast Ridge route, also known as South Col, which is the standard route to the summit pioneered by New Zealander Sir Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay in 1953. The route remains the most popular path among climbers. Sagarmatha has been climbed by more than 8,000 people, many of them multiple times, since it was first scaled by Hillary and Norgay more than 70 years ago.
Nepal is home to eight of the world’s 14 tallest peaks, including Sagarmatha. The country has issued 468 permits, each costing climbers $11,000, for the climbing season that ends this month.