KARHMANDU: A Nepali guide on Monday reached the top of Mount Everest for the 27th time, equalling the record for the most ascents of the world’s highest peak.
Pasang Dawa Sherpa, 46, is now tied with famed Nepali climber Kami Rita Sherpa, and the race between the two for the most Everest summits has captivated the mountaineering community.
Pasang Dawa reached the Everest summit — at 8,849 meters (29,032 feet) — for the 26th time only last week, matching Kami Rita’s record.
But the 53-year-old Kami Rita, who is known as “The Everest Man,” took the lead again in two days with his 27th ascent.
“Pasang Dawa Sherpa reached the summit today with Chinese clients. This was his 27th summit,” his expedition organizer, Imagine Nepal Trek and Expedition, told AFP.
After first climbing Everest in 1998, Pasang Dawa has reached the summit almost every year, sometimes even twice in the same climbing season.
He may not share the record for long, however: Kami Rita is expected to climb Everest again this week.
Nepal is home to eight of the world’s 10 highest peaks and welcomes hundreds of adventurers each spring, when temperatures are mild and often treacherous Himalayan winds are typically calm.
Nepal has issued 478 permits for Everest to foreign climbers this season, which runs until early June.
Since most will need a guide, more than 900 people in total will try to summit.
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.
More than 450 climbers have already scaled Everest, according to Nepal’s Department of Tourism.
This season, 10 climbers, including four Nepali guides, have lost their lives on Everest.
Nepali climber ties record with 27th Everest summit
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Nepali climber ties record with 27th Everest summit
Cambodia takes back looted historic artifacts handled by British art dealer
- The objects were returned under a 2020 agreement between the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts and the family of the late Douglas Latchford, a British art collector and dealer who allegedly had the items smuggled out of Cambodia
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia: Cambodian officials on Friday received more than six dozen historic artifacts described as part of the country’s cultural heritage that had been looted during decades of war and instability.
At a ceremony attended by Deputy Prime Minister Hun Many, the 74 items were unveiled at the National Museum in Phnom Penh after their repatriation from the United Kingdom.
The objects were returned under a 2020 agreement between the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts and the family of the late Douglas Latchford, a British art collector and dealer who allegedly had the items smuggled out of Cambodia.
“This substantial restitution represents one of the most important returns of Khmer cultural heritage in recent years, following major repatriations in 2021 and 2023 from the same collection,” the Culture Ministry said in a statement. “It marks a significant step forward in Cambodia’s continued efforts to recover, preserve, and restore its ancestral legacy for future generations.”
The artifacts were described as dating from the pre-Angkorian period through the height of the Angkor Empire, including “monumental sandstone sculptures, refined bronze works, and significant ritual objects.” The Angkor Empire, which extended from the ninth to the 15th century, is best known for the Angkor Wat archaeological site, the nation’s biggest tourist attraction.
Latchford was a prominent antiquities dealer who allegedly orchestrated an operation to sell looted Cambodian sculptures on the international market.
From 1970 to the 1980s, during Cambodia’s civil wars and the communist Khmer Rouge ‘s brutal reign, organized looting networks sent artifacts to Latchford, who then sold them to Western collectors, dealers, and institutions. These pieces were often physically damaged, having been pried off temple walls or other structures by the looters.
Latchford was indicted in a New York federal court in 2019 on charges including wire fraud and conspiracy. He died in 2020, aged 88, before he could be extradited to face charges.
Cambodia, like neighboring Thailand, has benefited from a trend in recent decades involving the repatriation of art and archaeological treasures. These include ancient Asian artworks as well as pieces lost or stolen during turmoil in places such as Syria, Iraq and Nazi-occupied Europe. New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art is one of the prominent institutions that has been returning illegally smuggled art, including to Cambodia.
“The ancient artifacts created and preserved by our ancestors are now being returned to Cambodia, bringing warmth and joy, following the country’s return to peace,” said Hun Many, who is the younger brother of Prime Minister Hun Manet.
