Nepali mountaineer summits Everest for record 19th time

May 21, 2009, 6:36 GMT

   Kathmandu - A Nepalese climber on Thursday broke his own world record by scaling 8,848-metre Mount Everest, the world's highest peak, for the 19th time, mountaineering officials said.

   Appa Sherpa, 48, reached the summit with eight other climbers, the handling agency Asian Trekking said in Kathmandu.

   'I am at the top and am looking at all the prayer flags,' Asian Trekking's website quoted Appa as saying when he radioed the base camp. '... I have just satisfied the deities and placed the bhumpa [offering] on the summit.

   'I am the last of our group to get to the top today as I was delayed at the Hillary Step because there are so many people here. I arrived here at 8 am [0215 GMT] and have been here for 30 minutes. ... It's very cold, so I am now heading down.'

   Appa Sherpa lives in the United States and works as a climbing instructor and lecturer.

   He said this year's expedition was to raise awareness about garbage problems on the mountain and bring back trash left behind by mountaineers.

   'The expedition has already brought down nearly 6,000 kilograms of junk and garbage from the mountain,' said Ang Tshering, a former president of Nepal's mountaineering association. 'It including parts of a helicopter that crashed on the mountain in 1973.'

   Meanwhile, at least 45 other climbers from nine nations reached Everest's summit Wednesday, the Nepalese Tourism Ministry said.

   They consisted of 22 climbers from Nepal, seven Americans, four Finns, three Singaporeans, three Germans, two Britons, two Swiss, one Austrian and a Spaniard.

   On Tuesday, 27 climbers from six countries reached the summit.

   More than 154 climbers, both from the Nepalese and Tibetan sides, have so far scaled the peak during the current spring climbing season, the Everest News website said.

   At least three people have been killed on the mountain this year, it said.

   Nepal's spring climbing season starts in April and lasts until the end of May.