Most ascents of Everest (male)

The most ascents of Everest (aka Sagarmāthā; Chomolungma), the world's highest mountain, is 32, by Kami Rita Sherpa (Nepal, b. 17 January 1970), who reached the summit most recently, aged 56, on 17 May 2026 at 10.12 a.m. local time.

At 8,848.86 m (29,032 ft) above sea level, Everest is the highest mountain on Earth. In 2020, a joint initiative by Chinese and Nepalese land surveyors announced that Everest's height had grown from the 8,848-m (29,029-ft) elevation that had been logged by the Survey of India in 1954.

Kami Rita completed his first climb of Everest on 13 May 1994, aged 24, and has scaled it nearly every year since (some years, such as 2023 and 2024, twice), when it has been permitted. In 2020, the south side in Nepal was closed to climbers owing to the coronavirus pandemic; a partial reopening in 2021 enabled him to achieve his 25th summit on 7 May 2021.

His closest contender is fellow guide Pasang Dawa Sherpa (Nepal), who has made 31 Everest summits to date, adding his latest two ascents in May 2026.

The first people to top Everest were New Zealand's Edmund Hillary and Nepali Sherpa Tenzing Norgay (b. Tibet, China) on 29 May 1953.