<p>Kathmandu: A British climber and a Nepali guide have broken their own records for most climbs of Mount Everest, the world's highest mountain, hiking officials said on Sunday.</p><p>Rakesh Gurung, director of Nepal's Department of Tourism, said Britain's Kenton Cool, 50, and Nepali guide Kami Rita Sherpa, 54, climbed the 8,849-metre (29,032 foot) peak for the 18th and 29th time, respectively.</p><p>They were on separate expeditions guiding their clients.</p><p>"He just keeps going and going... amazing guy!" Garrett Madison of the US.-based expedition organising company Madison Mountaineering said of the Nepali climber. Madison had teamed up with Kami Rita to climb the summits of Everest, Lhotse, and K2 in 2014.</p><p>K2, located in Pakistan, is the world's second-highest mountain and Lhotse in Nepal is the fourth-tallest.</p><p>Lukas Furtenbach of the Austrian expedition operator Furtenbach Adventures called Cool's feat remarkable.</p><p>"He is a fundamental part of the Everest guiding industry. Kenton Cool is an institution," Furtenbach, who is leading an expedition from the Chinese side of Everest, told <em>Reuters</em>.</p><p>Both climbers used the Southeast Ridge route to the summit.</p><p>Pioneered by the first summiteers, New Zealander Sir Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay in 1953, the route remains the most popular path to the Everest summit.</p><p>Kami Rita first climbed Everest in 1994 and has done so almost every year since, except for three years when authorities closed the mountain for various reasons.</p><p>He climbed the mountain twice last year.</p><p>Mountain climbing is a major tourism activity and a source of income as well as employment for Nepal, home to eight of the world's 14 tallest peaks, including Everest.</p><p>Nepal has issued 414 permits, each costing $11,000 to climbers for the climbing season that ends this month. </p>
<p>Kathmandu: A British climber and a Nepali guide have broken their own records for most climbs of Mount Everest, the world's highest mountain, hiking officials said on Sunday.</p><p>Rakesh Gurung, director of Nepal's Department of Tourism, said Britain's Kenton Cool, 50, and Nepali guide Kami Rita Sherpa, 54, climbed the 8,849-metre (29,032 foot) peak for the 18th and 29th time, respectively.</p><p>They were on separate expeditions guiding their clients.</p><p>"He just keeps going and going... amazing guy!" Garrett Madison of the US.-based expedition organising company Madison Mountaineering said of the Nepali climber. Madison had teamed up with Kami Rita to climb the summits of Everest, Lhotse, and K2 in 2014.</p><p>K2, located in Pakistan, is the world's second-highest mountain and Lhotse in Nepal is the fourth-tallest.</p><p>Lukas Furtenbach of the Austrian expedition operator Furtenbach Adventures called Cool's feat remarkable.</p><p>"He is a fundamental part of the Everest guiding industry. Kenton Cool is an institution," Furtenbach, who is leading an expedition from the Chinese side of Everest, told <em>Reuters</em>.</p><p>Both climbers used the Southeast Ridge route to the summit.</p><p>Pioneered by the first summiteers, New Zealander Sir Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay in 1953, the route remains the most popular path to the Everest summit.</p><p>Kami Rita first climbed Everest in 1994 and has done so almost every year since, except for three years when authorities closed the mountain for various reasons.</p><p>He climbed the mountain twice last year.</p><p>Mountain climbing is a major tourism activity and a source of income as well as employment for Nepal, home to eight of the world's 14 tallest peaks, including Everest.</p><p>Nepal has issued 414 permits, each costing $11,000 to climbers for the climbing season that ends this month. </p>