KATMANDU: Nepali climber Kami Rita Sherpa reached the top of Mount Everest for the 27th time on Wednesday, reclaiming the record for the most summits of the world’s highest mountain.
“He successfully reached the summit this morning guiding a Vietnamese climber,” Mingma Sherpa of Seven Summit Treks, his expedition organizer, said.
Nepal is home to eight of the world’s 10 highest peaks, including the 8,849-meter (29,032-foot) Everest, and welcomes hundreds of adventurers each spring, when temperatures are warm and winds are typically calm.
Earlier Wednesday, British mountain guide Kenton Cool reached the world’s highest point for the 17th time, extending his own record for the most summits by a non-Nepali.
Authorities have issued 478 permits to foreign climbers this year, the $11,000 fee part of total costs for a summit ranging from $45,000 to $200,000.
Since most will need a guide, more than 900 people — a record — will try to summit this season, which runs until early June.
The 53-year-old Kami Rita Sherpa had held the overall title since 2018, when he ascended Everest for the 22nd time, passing the previous mark he shared with two other Sherpa climbers, both of whom have since retired.
But on Sunday another climber, Pasang Dawa Sherpa, 46, tied the record by reaching the top for the 26th time.
A guide for more than two decades, Kami Rita Sherpa first summited in 1994 when 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 top.
“These records were made not with an intention to make them but during my work as a guide,” Sherpa said last month as he headed to base camp.
Dubbed “the Everest man,” Sherpa was born in 1970 in Thame, a village in the Himalayas renowned as a breeding ground for successful mountaineers.
Growing up, Sherpa watched his father and then his brother don climbing gear to join expeditions as mountain guides, and was soon following in their footsteps.
In 2019, he reached the summit twice in the span of six days.
Sherpa’s client Wednesday was reportedly Chinh Chu, a Vietnamese billionaire who made his fortune in finance, while Cool guided Richard Walker, executive chairman of British supermarket chain Iceland Foods, to the top.
Nepali guides, usually ethnic Sherpas from the valleys around Everest, are considered the backbone of the climbing industry and bear huge risks to carry equipment and food, fix ropes and repair ladders.
Cool, 49, first climbed Everest in 2004 and his 16th ascent last year gave him the sole record for the most summits by a non-Nepali climber, but he said then that he was “surprised” by the attention.
“In reality, it’s not that amazing,” he said, pointing out that many Sherpa guides had stood on the peak more often than him.
“People go ‘it’s a world record’, it’s not a world record,” he said. “It’s just that I happen to hold the non-Sherpa record, for whatever that is worth, which in my mind, (is) not very much.”
Three Nepali climbers died on the mountain last month when a block of glacial ice fell and swept them into a deep crevasse as they were crossing the treacherous Khumbu icefall as part of a supply mission.
Fatalities climbed to four when a 69-year-old US mountaineer died this month during his acclimatization rotation at around 6,400 meters.
Nepali mountaineer climbs Everest for record 27th time
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Nepali mountaineer climbs Everest for record 27th time
- Nepal is home to eight of the world’s 10 highest peaks, including the 8,849-meter Everest
- Kami Rita Sherpa had held the overall title since 2018, when he ascended Everest for the 22nd time
Turkiye’s youngest oil wrestlers keeping a 14th-century tradition alive
- The sport, which is on UNESCO’s intangible cultural heritage list, sees wrestlers cover themselves in olive oil and try to press their opponent’s back to the ground to win the bout
Held every summer in the northwestern city of Edirne, the event is said to date back to the 14th century as a way of keeping the Ottoman Empire’s fighting men fit and ready for battle.
The sport, which is on UNESCO’s intangible cultural heritage list, sees wrestlers cover themselves in olive oil and try to press their opponent’s back to the ground to win the bout.
Alongside the men contesting, youngsters also don the iconic “kispet” leather trousers to embark on a slippery test of strength, skill and stamina under the scorching sun.
The boys are ranked in divisions based on age, height and build, with the youngest generally placed in the “minik,” or tiny, category. Under strict safety regulations, their matches are shorter and closely supervised.
Most young wrestlers train year-round at local clubs, often in towns where oil wrestling is passed down through generations.
While the youngest competitors aren’t wrestling for titles like “baspehlivan,” the grand champion of the men’s matches, their participation is no less significant as it is key to the continuity of a sport that holds deep cultural importance across Turkiye.
This year’s contest – the 664th in its history – saw 36-year-old Orhan Okulu win his third men’s title.
“My goal was the golden belt in Kirkpinar and thanks to my God, I succeeded,” Okulu said of the coveted prize.
Pakistan confiscates 18 lions kept as pets in crackdown after attack
- The lion, which was kept without a license in a house in Lahore, was confiscated and sent to a local safari park
- Keeping exotic animals as pets has been fueled by social media, with owners often showing off their animals online as status symbols
LAHORE: Eighteen lions kept illegally as pets have been confiscated in Pakistan’s Punjab region, authorities said on Monday as they launched a crackdown after one escaped from a house and attacked a woman and two children.
The woman suffered scratches and bruises, and the two children, aged five and seven, were hospitalized after the attack last week but their injuries were not life-threatening, provincial wildlife officials said.
The lion, which was kept without a license in a house in Lahore, was confiscated and sent to a local safari park, said Mubeen Elahi, director general of the provincial Wildlife and Parks Department. The owner was later arrested, police said.
Keeping exotic animals as pets has been fueled by social media, with owners often showing off their animals online as status symbols.
“According to the new regulations for keeping big cats, no individual is allowed to keep a lion without a license, without adhering to the required cage size, and without following other standard operating procedures,” Elahi said.
The punishment is up to seven years in jail.
As well as confiscating the 18 animals, the department raided 38 lion and tiger breeding farms and arrested eight people for violating the rules, he said, adding that all farms will be inspected by the end of this week.
There are 584 lions and tigers in homes and breeding farms in Punjab, Pakistan’s most populous province, he said.
“I know plenty of people who keep big cats as pets,” said Qaim Ali, 30, who himself had a lion but sold it after it attacked his nephew.
“Most of them are not interested in breeding but keep them as a symbol of power and influence in society.”
Djokovic’s daughter steals the show at Wimbledon with her victory dance
- Tara Djokovic’s victory dance brought a smile to dad’s face. Everybody else’s, too
LONDON: Novak Djokovic won the match on Center Court on Saturday, but it was his 7-year-old daughter who really wowed Wimbledon.
Tara Djokovic’s victory dance brought a smile to dad’s face. Everybody else’s, too.
Djokovic had just clinched his 100th Wimbledon singles win and was asked during his on-court interview to shed light on the little dance he’s been doing recently.
He said it’s done to a song called “Pump It Up.”
“There’s a song with my kids — look my daughter’s doing it right now,” a smiling Djokovic said as he looked into the crowd. “You want to show it darling?”
The TV camera then panned to Tara, who then showed everyone how it’s done: pump your fists down, then left, right and overhead.
The crowd roared.
“She’s the master. It’s a little tradition we have right now. Hopefully we can keep going so we can keep pumping more in Wimbledon.”
China’s first Legoland opens to visitors in Shanghai
- The resort, which opened Saturday, is the first in China
- It is one of 11 parks across the world and was built with 85 million Lego bricks
SHANGHAI: A giant 26-meter (85-foot) Lego figure named Dada welcomed visitors to the new Legoland resort in Shanghai.
The resort, which opened Saturday, is the first in China. It is one of 11 parks across the world and was built with 85 million Lego bricks.
Among the main attractions is Miniland, which replicates well-known sights from across the world using Lego bricks. It features landmarks across China like Beijing’s Temple of Heaven and Shanghai’s Bund waterfront. There’s also a boat tour through a historic Chinese water town built with Lego bricks.
“My first impression is it is a good recreation, like a real fairyland of Lego,” said Ji Yujia, a Lego fan who was there on opening day.
The resort was developed in conjunction with the Shanghai government by Merlin Entertainments and the LEGO Group.
Visitors were greeted by performances featuring Legoland characters. Tickets range from $44 (319 yuan) to $84 (599 yuan).
River Seine reopens to first Paris swimmers after century-long ban
- The seasonal opening of the Seine for swimming is seen as a key legacy of the Paris 2024 Olympics
- A few dozen swimmers arrived ahead of the Saturday morning opening for the long awaited moment
PARIS: The River Seine reopened to Parisian swimmers on Saturday morning for the first time since 1923, offering locals and tourists a welcome respite after a scorching temperatures.
A few dozen swimmers arrived ahead of the opening at 8:00 a.m. (0600 GMT) for the long awaited moment, diving into the water under the watchful eye of lifeguards, an AFP journalist said.
The seasonal opening of the Seine for swimming is seen as a key legacy of the Paris 2024 Olympics, when open water swimmers and triathletes competed in its waters which were specially cleaned for the event.
The swimming zones are equipped with changing rooms, showers, and beach-style furniture, offering space for 150 to 300 people to relax, lay out their towels, and unwind from the city’s hustle and bustle.
The promise to lift the swimming ban dates back to 1988, when then-mayor of Paris and future president Jacques Chirac first advocated for its reversal.
