A British climber who scaled Mount Everest for the 19th time, breaking his own record for the most ascents of the world's highest peak by a non-Sherpa guide, returned from the mountain on Tuesday and said he is already planning his next attempt.
Kenton Cool, 51, from southwest England, scaled the 8,849-meter 29,032-foot summit on Sunday before flying on a helicopter with his clients back to the Nepalese capital, Kathmandu.
"I am 51 now, and I have been coming here since 2004 to climb Everest," Cool said at Kathmandu's airport on Tuesday. "I have at least one more climb for next year - maybe 20 or 21 total. After that I'll start climbing other mountains in Nepal."
Cool has scaled Mount Everest almost every year since 2004.
He was unable to climb it in 2014 because the season was canceled after 16 Sherpa guides were killed in an avalanche, and again in 2015 when an earthquake triggered an avalanche that killed 19 people. The 2020 climbing season was canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic.