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AFP
KATHMANDU
A RECORD 807 climbers reached the summit of Mount Everest in May this year, officials confirmed on Thursday, capping a successful climbing season that also saw multiple other firsts.
Unusually good weather on the roof of the world allowed the staggering number of mountaineers to reach the 8,848-metre (20,029-foot) peak, including a double amputee from China.
Everest - which straddles the border between Nepal and China -- saw 563 people summit from the south and 244 reach the top from the northern flank in Tibet, authorities on both sides confirmed.
The numbers smashed the previous record of 665 summits set in 2013, according to the Himalayan Database.
Two Nepali Sherpas broke their own world records for the most Everest summits by a man and a woman, reaching the top for a 22nd and ninth time respectively.
Australian Steve Plain became the fastest person to summit the highest mountain on each of the world's seven continents when he reached the peak of Everest on May 14, knocking nine days off the previous record.
Meanwhile, a 28-year-old Nepali woman did not stop at Everest: she also summited the world's third highest mountain, Kangchenjunga, and fourth-highest Lhotse over a 26-day period.
