On May 17th, Kenton Cool broke his own record when he reached the summit of Everest for the 8th time.

Leading an expedition of 4 others, Kenton reached the summit first at 06.00 local time, followed 30 minutes later by Bonita Norris, who at just 22 years old becomes the youngest British Woman to summit Everest.

Acknowledged as one of the World’s greatest high altitude guides, Kenton has the most successful record of leading clients to the summit of Everest.  In 2007, he also successfully guided novice mountaineer and vertigo sufferer Sir Ranulph Fiennes up the infamous North Face of the Eiger, helping to raise over £2 million for the cancer charity Marie Curie.

Kenton's wife told the BBC that they had left base camp on Thursday: "I got a call from the summit last night and he sounded absolutely jubilant and really delighted that he had managed it for the eighth time." 

Kenton climbing in the Himalayas.  Photo: Ian Parnell

Kenton has climbed extensively in the Himalaya, the Alps, Greenland and Alaska and has made numerous first ascents to 6000m. In 2003 Kenton was nominated for the Piolet D’Or for an audacious committing first ascent on Annapurnna III in Nepal, adding to his reputation as being renowned for his bold approach to Himalayan climbing.  In 2006 he also became the first Briton to skii down from the summit of an 8000 metre peak (Cho Oyo, also in the Tibetan Himalayas).

Read more about Kenton here...