For the hardy few, climbing Everest is a bucket-list feat of endurance, danger and wonder. But Kami Rita Sherpa's 23rd record summit of the world's highest peak on Wednesday was just another day at work.
Sherpa, 49, reached the summit Wednesday morning, breaking his own record that he set last year, his expedition company confirmed. A guide for more than two decades, he first summited the 8,848-metre (29,029-foot) peak in 1994 when working for a commercial expedition.
"I did not climb for world records, I was just working. I did not even know you could set records earlier," he said last month before setting off for Everest base camp.
The accomplished Nepali climber has also conquered other challenging 8,000-metre peaks including the world's second-highest mountain, K2 in Pakistan. Last year he ascended Everest for the 22nd time, breaking the previous record of 21 summits he shared with two other Sherpa climbers.