55-year-old Kami Rita Sherpa breaks his own record: climbing Mount Everest 31 times

55-year-old Kami Rita Sherpa breaks his own record: climbing Mount Everest 31 timestoggle caption Prakash Mathema/AFP via Getty ImagesKami Rita Sherpa has broken his own record for climbing to the summit of Mount Everest, reaching the peak for the 31st time on Tuesday. Now 55, Kami Rita first climbed to the top of the world's highest mountain in 1994, when he was 24 years old. Kami Rita has climbed Everest nearly every year since the 1990s, sometimes completing two climbs in one climbing season. Climbing for miles and miles above sea levelA legendary climber, Kami Rita has trekked to many of the world's highest peaks. New Zealander Edmund Hillary and Nepali Sherpa Tenzing Norgay were the first climbing team to summit Everest, known in Nepali as Sagarmatha.