Nyi Nyi Aung, Win Ko Ko and Pyae Phyoe Aung are set to begin their attempt on the world’s largest peak this weekend after Britons Kenton Cool and Robert Richard Lucas along with Mexican David Liaño Gonzalez became the first foreigners to summit Mount Everest since a deadly earthquake ended last year’s climbing season.
The two Brits accompanied by two local guides, Dorchi Gyalzen Sherpa and Pemba Bhote, reached the top of the world’s highest peak at 8:15 am yesterday, said Iswari Paudel, owner of Himalayan Guides Nepal, which arranged the expedition.
The four-person team was the first to ascend the 8850-metre (29,035-foot) high Himalayan peak after nine Nepalis reached the summit on the evening before while fixing ropes for foreign climbers who plan to scale the mountain this week.
“After today’s successful summit, Kenton Cool has become the first Briton to summit Everest 12 times,” said Paudel, who received the news from team members at base camp.
Liaño Gonzalez was the first person to ascent Everest from both northern side in China and southern side in Nepal in the same season.
Hundreds of climbers abandoned the mountain last year after an earthquake-triggered avalanche at Everest base camp killed 18 people, including eight Nepalis working for Paudel.
Only one climber summited the peak in 2014 after an avalanche killed 16 Nepali guides. China’s Wang Jing reached the top after using a helicopter to transport tent equipment to higher camps following the closure of that year’s mountaineering season.
“In the last two years, I have lost 14 sherpas in two disasters on Everest,” Paudel told AFP.
“All of us in the climbing community – locals and westerners – have been so sad. We really wanted to send out a positive message to the world this year… and today’s summit is very good news,” he said.
Nepal issued 289 permits to mountaineers for this year’s brief spring climbing season, which runs from mid-April to the end of May.
Text / AFP
