50-year old Apa (Appa) has reached the top of the World for the 20th time. He broke his own previous record of climbing the highest peak in the world for the maximum number of times.
It was on May 10, 1990 Apa climbed the peak for the first time. Then he never stopped. He climbed the peak almost every years (except in 1996 and 2001) and he climbed it more than once in some years (twice in 1992 and 1997).
In his 20th ascend, Apa hoisted a Nepali flag imprinted with the slogan of Nepal Tourism Year 2011 on the top of the Mt. Everest in order to spread the message of tourism year. In the year 2011, Nepal expects to attract over 1 million tourists.
After his 12th summit in 2002 Apa announced his retirement citing family reasons, but he could not resist his temptation to scale the peak for much long and was atop the Everest for the 13th time in 2003.