KATHMANDU, MAY 10 Sankhuwasabha-born mountaineer Lakpa Sherpa, widely known as Makalu Lakpa, summited Mt. Makalu (8,485m) for a record ninth time at 5:00 am on May 2, becoming the climber with the most ascents of the world's fifth-highest peak while simultaneously advancing an ambitious three-peak campaign within a single spring season. The summit was reached as part of a Seven Summit Treks (SST) expedition. Makalu is the second summit of the season for Lakpa. On April 18, he stood atop Annapurna I (8,091m) with a 14 Peaks Expedition team. He now aims to complete Everest within the same season - which, if achieved, would make him one of very few climbers to have summited three eight-thousanders in a single spring. His overall eight-thousander tally spans eight of the world's fourteen peaks: Makalu nine times, Manaslu four times, Lhotse three times, Cho Oyu twice, and Everest, Dhaulagiri, Kangchenjunga, and Annapurna once each. Beyond the eight-thousanders, he has summited Ama Dablam seven times and logged more than 22 expeditions above 8,000 metres. Born on November 27, 1986, in Walung, Sankhuwasabha, the same district where Makalu rises, Lakpa entered the mountaineering world at fifteen as a porter on a French trekking expedition to Makalu Base Camp. His first 8,000-metre summit came in 2010 on Manaslu. His first Makalu summit came in 2016, and he has returned to the peak every season since. The most dramatic chapter of his Makalu record came in spring 2022, when he climbed the mountain three times in sixteen days, including one ascent without supplemental oxygen, earning a Guinness World Record. The campaign was marked by a near-fatal accident on the first attempt, when he was swept 300 metres down an ice slope before arresting his fall and rescuing fellow climber Ang Tenji. Last autumn, Lakpa led the rope-fixing operation on Dhaulagiri I (8,167m), opening the route for the season on September 27, a role that reflects his standing not only as a record-breaking summit climber but as one of the Himalaya's most trusted high-altitude route openers.