Kathmandu – British climber Kenton Cool successfully climbed Mount Everest for the nineteenth time on Sunday. He is the first non-Nepali to set this record.

More than 50 climbers have reached the summit since the spring climbing season began this month, taking advantage of a brief spell of good weather and typically calmer winds.

Mountain guide Cool, 51, first climbed Everest in 2004 and has since had an expedition almost every year taking clients up the world’s highest peak.

“Kenton summited Everest for the 19th time at 11am Nepalese time (0515 GMT) on Sunday,” a post on his Instagram account said.

He told AFP in a 2022 interview after his 16th ascent that his Everest record was “not that amazing” in the context of Nepali climbers’ achievements.

“I’m really surprised by the interest… considering that so many of the Sherpas have so many more ascents,” he said then.

Nepali climber Kami Rita Sherpa, 55, is also attempting to break his own world record for the most Everest summits with his 31st climb.

Cool’s latest summit comes after at least two people – a Filipino and an Indian climber – died on Mount Everest this week.

Nepal has issued 458 permits to mountaineers this season and a city of tents hosting foreign climbers and support staff has built up at the foot of Everest.

Most Everest hopefuls are escorted by a Nepali guide, meaning more than 900 climbers will tread the path to the summit this season, AFP reported.

Nepal is home to eight of the world’s 10 highest peaks and welcomes hundreds of climbers each spring.

Kami Rita Sherpa holds the record for the most successful ascents of Mount Everest, having climbed the peak 30 times. He first summited Everest in 1994 and has made the journey nearly every year since. His recent 30th summit, achieved in May 2024, broke his own previous record.