NEPALI guide Kami Rita Sherpa reached the top of Mount Everest on Tuesday (May 23) for a record 28th time, just a day after his competitor tied with his previous record.

“Kami Rita Sherpa made a second summit of Everest this morning. It is his 28th time,” Thaneshwor Guragain of his expedition organiser Seven Summit Treks told AFP.

Only a day before, Pasang Dawa Sherpa, 46, had equalised the record set by Kami Rita Sherpa last week with his 27th summit of the 8,849-metre (29,032-feet) mountain.

Both have climbed twice this season, and the race between the two for the most Everest summits has captivated the mountaineering community.

A guide for more than two decades and known as the “Everest Man”, Kami Rita Sherpa, 53, first summited Everest in 1994 when he was working for a commercial expedition.

Since then, he has climbed Everest almost every year, several times leading the first rope-fixing team to open the route to the world’s highest point.

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Nepal is home to eight of the world’s 10 highest peaks and welcomes hundreds of adventurers each spring, when temperatures are mild and Himalayan winds are typically calm.

Nepal has issued 478 permits for Everest to foreign climbers this season, which runs until early June.

Since most need a guide, more than 900 people in total were expected to attempt a summit.

Nepali guides, usually ethnic Sherpas from the valleys around Everest, are considered the backbone of the industry and bear huge risks to carry equipment and food, fix ropes and repair ladders.

More than 500 climbers have already scaled Everest, according to Nepal’s Department of Tourism.

Every season season people die in the attempt and already this season 10 climbers, including four Nepali guides, have lost their lives on Everest. AFP