In the world of mountaineering, Kami Rita Sherpa is known as the King of Mount Everest. Truly he seems to have made the world’s highest mountain his kingdom. On 12th May 2024, he conquered Mount Everest for the 29th time. Climbing to the top of Mount Everest once in a lifetime is considered a noteworthy achievement. But Kami Rita has done it 29 times in 30 years.
The fact that Kami Rita is now 54 years old makes the achievement even more remarkable. No other person has made so many ascents to the top of the world. It is an incredible record that may perhaps never be broken by any other human. His first summit was made in 1994 and since then, almost every year, he has taken part in expeditions and succeeded in standing on top of Everest.
Climbed other peaks too
Moreover, it is not just Mount Everest that he climbed during his career. In addition to Everest, he has also climbed many other peaks which are almost as high as Everest. These include the Cho Oyu peak, Lhotse peak and the K2 peak. So he has spent more of his life at high altitude than on plain ground.
Kami Rita belongs to the Sherpa community of Tibetan ethnicity. Members of this community act as climbing guides for almost all mountaineering expeditions. Tenzing Norgay who was the first to climb up to summit Everest along with Edmund Hillary was a Sherpa.
His father was among the first Sherpa guides when the government of Nepal opened the route to Everest for European expeditions.
Thereafter Kami Rita and his brother Lakpa Rita followed in their father’s footsteps. Lakpa Rita has climbed Everest 17 times. Kami Rita’s ambition was to climb Mount Everest 25 times before he retired from the profession. But he has now surpassed his ambition and says that he has left it to God now. It is up to the Almighty to take him as far as he wants.
But wife is not happy
But amidst all the euphoria, there is one person who is not happy with all the success. That person is Kami Rita’s wife Lakpa Jangmu. She wants Kami to give up his risky adventures, settle down in Kathmandu and lead a more sedentary and secure life with her and their children.
“I have told him many times but he won’t listen,” she said.
But Kami Rita is not yet ready to give up his thrilling and dangerous lifestyle on the icy mountain slopes. However, he does want the government of Nepal to be more supportive of the Sherpas. “We are famous throughout the world. Many foreign experts rely on us, but our government doesn’t care about us,” he told the media.
He said that when another well-known climber named Ang Rita Sherpa was hospitalised in Kathmandu in 2017 after a brain haemorrhage, the government provided no support. Climbing the snowy peaks is a high-risk activity. Ang Rita’s son Karsang Rita died in an accident while climbing. Pasang Lhamu Sherpa who was the first woman Sherpa to climb Everest, fell to her death while coming down.
Numerous Sherpas died on Everest
In 2014, sixteen Sherpas died due to an avalanche and in 2015 there were 15 casualties due to avalanches triggered by the Nepal earthquake. In all there have been 118 recorded deaths among the Sherpa guides. According to a US based research organisation, deaths among Sherpas account for one-third of all deaths on Mount Everest. So the Nepalese government must pay heed to the pleas of Kami Rita and his fellow Sherpas.
These intrepid men of the mountains love adventure and are willing to risk their lives to help others. No expedition can succeed without the aid of the Sherpas. But their lifestyle is devoid of financial security. They want the government to spend some of the money that is earned from European tourists and expeditions, to help Sherpas and make their lives better.
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