Britons, Mexican first foreigners atop Everest since disasters

Reuters: Two Britons and a Mexican have become the first foreigners to climb Mount Everest from the Nepali side, climbing officials said on Thursday, after disasters in 2014 and 2015 killed dozens and forced mountaineers off the world’s tallest peak.

Briton Kenton Cool, 42, and David Liano Gonzalez, 36, of Mexico, reached the 8,850 meter (29,035 feet) summit at 8.24 a.m. (0239 GMT), said Ang Tshering Sherpa, Chief of the Nepal Mountaineering Association (NMA).

“They reached the top with three Nepali sherpa guides,” he told Reuters in Kathmandu after contacting the team on the mountain. Robert Richard Lucas, a 47-year-old Briton, also climbed with the group, said Ishwari Paudel of the Himalayan Guides hiking group, his local organizer.

“All climbers are on their way down,” Paudel said without giving details. A nine-man sherpa team reached the summit on Wednesday after setting ropes on the final stretch in time for the first clear weather window of this year’s campaign to open.

Around 100 climbers are readying to make their final assault in the coming days out of a total of 289 who have received Everest permits.