Most of us struggle to get out of bed on a Friday. Kenton Cool, a 52-year-old British climber, spent his Friday morning doing something a little different: summiting Mount Everest for the 20th time.
That's right, twenty. Let that satisfying number sink in. He's now the first non-Nepali climber to achieve this mind-boggling feat, because apparently, that's where we are now. People are not just climbing Everest; they're collecting it.
Cool, who first topped the 8,849-meter (29,032ft) peak in 2004, admits it never gets "any easier or any less frightening." Which, if you think about it, is both impressive and slightly terrifying. Imagine doing something two decades straight that still scares you. He's also doing it after doctors told him in 1996 he might never walk unassisted again following a rock-climbing accident. So, yeah, that guy.
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Start Your News DetoxLukas Furtenbach, an expedition organizer and a mere four-time Everest climber (the amateur), called Cool an "absolute legend" who's "quietly rewriting the record books" for non-Sherpa climbers. Meanwhile, the rest of us are still trying to figure out how to fold a fitted sheet.
Everest's Crowded Slopes
Cool's record comes amidst what can only be described as a traffic jam on the world's highest mountain. This past Wednesday, over 270 climbers used Nepal's southern route in a single day, setting an all-time record. Because, when you're climbing the deadliest mountain on Earth, what you really want is a queue.
This surge has, predictably, sparked calls for better safety and limits. Two Indian climbers reportedly died during their descent on Friday after falling ill, bringing the season's death toll to five. Authorities are now trying to recover their bodies, which is just another day on Everest, apparently.
Even Kami Rita Sherpa, the actual "Everest Man" with a staggering 32 summits (yes, you read that right), thinks the government should regulate things. He's suggesting only "climbers of quality" and a hard limit. Because nothing says exclusive like a death-defying trek up a mountain.
With eight of the world's ten highest peaks in Nepal, thousands attempt to climb them each year. Photos show long lines of climbers waiting patiently in the icy, high-altitude death zones. Just another day in the office, if your office is 29,000 feet up and requires supplemental oxygen.
