KATHMANDU, MAY 23
A renowned American mountain guide has scaled Mt Everest for the 15th time this morning tying Dave Hahn for the second-most summits by a non-Sherpa climber.
According to Iswari Paudel, Managing Director at Himalayan Guides, Garrett Madison of the Madison Mountaineering, stood atop the world's highest peak at around 11:30am. "Madison, America's premier Everest guide and expedition leader, who began guiding professionally in 1999 on Mount Rainier, has reached the top of Everest 15 times," Paudel said.
Garrett now equals his Everest summit counts with American climber Dave Hahn, who stood atop Everest for the 15th time in 2013.
"Dave has been a mentor of mine since 1999 when I started my mountain guiding career as an apprentice guide on Mount Rainier for RMI Expeditions under the supervision of Peter Whittaker, another strong mentor of mine. I owe a lot to these guys in providing the opportunity, training and experience to build the foundation for my guiding career," Garrett wrote while heading for the final summit push yesterday.
British climber Kenton Cool is the only foreigner who summited Everest for the 19th time this season. Legendary climber Kami Rita Sherpa holds the world record for the most ascents of Everest (30 times.)
