Two Sherpas Set Records For Climbing Everest

Climbing a tall mountain is hard enough. Climbing Mount Everest is something that many of us will never achieve, or even try. But two people have done it, and many more times than once. It’s almost easy for them, each having scaled the mountain over ten times.

The two sherpas are now known as “Mountain Queen” and “Everest Man.” “Mountain Queen,” whose name is Lhakpa Sherpa, has reached the summit eleven times, breaking her own record and also holding the record for the highest number of times a woman has climbed up to the top. “Everest Man,” or Kami Rita Sherpa holds the world record for climbing up to the summit with 32 ascents, reaching his 32nd time on May 17th, 2026. The world record for someone who is not a sherpa is Kenton Cool, a man from the UK, who has scaled the mountain 20 times. Mount Everest is the highest peak on earth, and the journey proves to be extremely difficult.

It takes ten weeks for an experienced mountaineer to climb Mount Everest, and even then you might not reach the summit. The journey costs over 60,000 USD on average, and climbers must undergo heavy training before trying to climb the mountain. Even though the first attempt was in 1921, no one had climbed up to the summit until 30 years later, when Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay became the first to reach the summit. There is no proof that the two men who attempted climbing Everest 30 years before had reached the summit, so Hillary and Norgay are considered the first to successfully climb Mount Everest.

Is Mount Everest the tallest mountain though? It has the highest peak, but there’s a mountain that’s height from base to summit beats Mount Everest’s. Mauna Kea, in Big Island, Hawaii, looks like nothing compared to Mount Everest… on the surface. Down below, the base of Mauna Kea sits on the ocean floor. Mauna Kea is about 4000 feet taller than Mount Everest, so did “Mountain Queen” and “Everest Man” climb the tallest mountain, or just the highest peak?