Cool notches up 17th Everest summit…

• Thursday 18th May 2023

Kenton Cool adds another ascent of Everest to his collection; his seventeenth.

Kenton Cool, climbing with Richard Walker (@richardiceland)  and Dorjee Gyelzen Sherpa (@dorjee.gyelzen), topped Mount Everest at 01:30 UK time yesterday. Reports are that conditions for the summit push were ‘incredibly cold’ which lead to a variety of tech problems including the failure of trackers and communications equipment. The trio are said to be resting at Camp 4 before continuing their descent.

Kenton’s ascent of Everest is his 17^th; last year, his 16^th ascent, made him the record holder for the most ascents by a non-sherpa mountaineer.  Cool made his first ascent back in 2004, a double ascent in 2007 and since then he has summited every year since barring 2015, 2017 and 2020.

If our maths are correct, Dorjee Gyelzen Sherpa’s summit on Everest was his 21^st taking him closer to Kami Rita Sherpa’s remarkable record of 26 Everest summits – although given Kami Rita Sherpa’s is on Everest at the moment this is likely to rise to 27 in the next few days! Even more remarkably however, is that Kami Rite Sherpa has over 39 summits of 8000’ers to his name.

Kenton’s client on this year’s Everest climb was Richard Walker, executive chairman of Iceland Foods. Walker’s inspiration for his Everest climb was his mother’s illness. Diagnosed with early-onset of Alzhelmer’s at the age 64 Lady Walker sadly passing away in 2021. Walker, an ambassador for Alzheimer's Research UK, has been raising money for @Brain_appeal to further their quest to create the world’s first Rare Dementia Support Centre. Anyone wishing to donate to this cause can do so via a link on Walker’s Instagram bio – click here for that.