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Kami Rita
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Kami Rita

कामीरिता शेर्पा

Nepali sherpa guide and Mount Everest climber

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Kami Rita Sherpa (Nepali: कामीरिता शेर्पा, romanized: Kāmīritā Śerpā; born 17 January 1970) is a Nepalese Sherpa guide who holds the record for most ascents to the summit of Mount Everest. He has held the record since May 2018. Most recently, he scaled Everest for the 32nd time on 17 May 2026, breaking his own record set on 27 May 2025. His father was among the first professional Sherpa guides after Everest was opened to foreign mountaineers in 1950. His brother Lakpa Rita, also a guide, has scaled Everest 17 times.

Quick facts

Born
wd
Place of birth
Thame wd
Citizenship
Nepal wd
Occupation
mountain guide wd

About

In 2017, Rita was the third person to reach the summit of Mount Everest 21 times, sharing this record with Apa Sherpa and Phurba Tashi Sherpa. The latter two subsequently retired.

On 16 May 2018, at age 48, Rita became the first person in the world to climb Mount Everest 22 times, achieving the record of the most summits on the 8,848-meter (29,031-foot) peak. In April of that year, he told the news media that he planned to scale Everest 25 times before retirement, "not just for myself but for my family, the Sherpa people and for my country, Nepal"; He completed his 31st summit of Everest on 27 May 2025.

In addition to his Everest summits, his totals include Cho-Oyu eight times (2001, 2004, 2006, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2014 and 2016), Lhotse (2011), K2 (2014) and Manaslu (2023).

Early life and education

Quoted from Wikipedia: Kami Rita (CC BY-SA 4.0); each sentence links the source Wikipedia cites for it. Checked 7 November 2026.

  • Rita was born and grew up in Thame, a small village in the Solukhumbu district of Nepal, living with his large family in a one-room house. explorersweb.com
  • Thame is also the birthplace of other famous mountaineering Sherpas, including Tenzing Norgay who (alongside Sir Edmund Hillary) achieved the first ascent of Mount Everest in 1953. Thames Sherpa Fund
  • He has ensured that his children are getting an education to enable them to choose occupations that are less dangerous than guiding mountaineers. "We were illiterate and poor and there were no other means of survival [back then]. Outside Online
  • But he does not listen to me at all." She also confirmed that their children will not become mountain guides. The Independent

Career

  • According to Rita's brother Lakpa Rita, Kami's first work on a mountain was in 1992, assisting a Base Camp cook. The Independent
  • By age 24, he had scaled Everest. www.efe.com
  • An April 2018 report by NPR stated that Sherpas account for one-third of Everest deaths. NPR SBS Your Language
  • The highest peaks in Nepal are less dangerous around May of each year; in the autumn, he guides clients up the country's smaller peaks. The Independent
  • As of May 2019, he was employed by Seven Summit Treks, a company that arranges climbing expeditions. Outside Online bbc.com The Himalayan Times
  • Prior to 2018, he had been employed by an American firm, Alpine Ascents International. Outside Online Gulf-Times

Notable statements

  • Many foreigners know us, but our government doesn't care about us." He said that when Ang Rita Sherpa was hospitalised in Kathmandu in 2017 after a brain haemorrhage, the government provided no support. Gulf-Times
  • Although climbing is safer than in the past because of superior equipment and weather forecasts, the occupation is still dangerous, he told a reporter in 2018. "The crevasses are deep and the slopes are unpredictable," Rita said. National Geographic News The Independent
  • As a result, we were compelled to climb dangerous mountains to eke out a living," he told a journalist. www.efe.com

Questions

When was Kami Rita born?
Kami Rita was born on 1970 in Thame.

Sources

  1. Wikipedia (English): Kami Rita · CC BY-SA 4.0
  2. Wikipedia (Nepali): कामीरिता शेर्पा · CC BY-SA 4.0
  3. Wikidata item Q30688283 · CC0 1.0
  4. Image: Kami Rita Sherpa Mt Everest Summit May 2010.jpg by Vlvescovo (CC BY-SA 4.0)
  5. Wikipedia (English), revision used for cited facts: Kami Rita · CC BY-SA 4.0
  6. explorersweb.com: Everest Summit (21 May 2019)
  7. Thames Sherpa Fund: Leadership (1 March 2016)
  8. Outside Online: Kami Rita Summits Everest for 22nd Time (16 May 2018)
  9. The Independent: This veteran Sherpa is trying to reach the top of Everest for a record-breaking 22nd time (11 April 2018)
  10. www.efe.com: Everest climber Kami Rita returns to break his own world record (19 April 2019)
  11. NPR: One-Third Of Everest Deaths Are Sherpa Climbers (14 April 2018)
  12. SBS Your Language: Why is Mount Everest running out of Sherpa guides?
  13. Outside Online: Kami Rita Sherpa Just Broke His Own Everest Record (15 May 2019)
  14. bbc.com: Sherpa to make record 22nd Everest bid (31 March 2018)
  15. The Himalayan Times: Kami Rita Sherpa scales Mt Everest for record 22 times
  16. Gulf-Times: Sherpa eyes record-breaking 22nd Everest climb (12 May 2018)
  17. National Geographic News: Will Everest's Climbing Circus Slow Down After Disasters? (13 May 2015)

Last updated · facts checked 7 November 2026

Cite this page

"Kami Rita". DigiNepal. Last updated 6 November 2026. https://diginpl.com/people/kami-rita. Retrieved 7 November 2026.

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Text from the Wikipedia article Kami Rita, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. This page's text is shared under the same licence. Facts from Wikidata (CC0). Image: Kami Rita Sherpa Mt Everest Summit May 2010.jpg — Vlvescovo, CC BY-SA 4.0.

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