A veteran Nepalese Sherpa guide scaled Mount Everest for a record 17th time yesterday, extending his own record, mountaineering officials said.
Appa, who goes by one name, reached the 8,850m summit with seven other Sherpas and a Western climber at 8:45am, said Ang Tshering, president of the Nepal Mountaineering Association.
Appa was leading an eight-member team of Sherpas calling themselves the "Super Sherpas Expedition" on a charity climb to raise education funds for children of the Nepalese mountain guides.
PHOTO: EPA
Appa -- a modest, thinly built 46-year-old -- is one of the most respected climbers in the mountaineering community. His closest competitor, fellow Sherpa guide Chewang Nima, 41, scaled the peak a 14th time last year.
Appa and his teammates had set out to the world's highest mountain to make a documentary about the climb with all money raised to go toward providing better education and health care for children in their community at the foothills of the mountain.
Other climbers to scale Everest yesterday included Appa's climbing partner Lakpa Gyelu, who made his 13th trip to the summit.
Gyelu also once held the record for the fastest climb of the peak, sprinting from the base camp at 5,300m to the summit in 10 hours and 56 minutes. That record was broken by Pemba Dorjee who achieved the feat in eight hours and 10 minutes.
Like most Sherpas, Appa grew up in the foothills of Everest, and began carrying equipment and supplies for trekkers and mountaineers at an early age.
Appa made his first summit of Everest in 1989 and has been climbing almost every year since.
Sherpas were mostly yak herders and traders living in the Himalayas until Nepal opened its borders to tourism in 1950. Their stamina and knowledge of the mountains makes them expert guides and porters for foreign mountaineers.
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