Two Nepalese climbers of the Sherpa ethnic group made history again on Everest on Sunday. Kami Rita Sherpa, 56, reached the 8,849-meter summit for the 32nd time, while Lhakpa Sherpa, 52, achieved her 11th ascent. Both started as porters and are now professional guides. Kami Rita arrived at 10:12 leading an international team, and Lhakpa, known as the Queen of the Mountain, did so at 9:30. She was the first Nepalese woman to successfully climb and descend the mountain in 2000.
Porters, guides, and technology: the system that sustains the records 🏔️
Behind these records lies a technical and human ecosystem. Sherpas like Kami Rita and Lhakpa use supplemental oxygen equipment, fixed ropes, and radio communication systems to coordinate ascents. The logistics include base camps with pressurized tents and satellite weather forecasts. Each expedition requires hundreds of kilos of material transported over multiple trips. Without this infrastructure, repeating the route to the summit would be unfeasible. The guides' experience, forged in decades of work as porters, is the factor that allows optimizing time and safety.
Everest: where climbing 32 times is not a record, it's a habit 🧗
Kami Rita has already lost count of how many pairs of boots he has worn out on Everest. While most of us complain about climbing four flights of stairs, he has been climbing the world's highest mountain for three decades like going to the supermarket. Lhakpa, for her part, shows that royalty doesn't need a crown, just eleven summits and a pair of crampons. The funny thing is that, despite so many records, no one has opened a snack bar at the summit. There is still hope for high-altitude tourism.