A Sherpa mountaineer extended his record for successful climbs of Mount Everest with his 24th ascent of the world's highest peak on Tuesday. Kami Rita reached the 29,035-foot peak on Tuesday, which was his second time on the summit in a week. He climbed to the top on May 15th then returned to base camp before climbing again this week. Nepal Department of Tourism official Mira Acharya said Rita reached the summit on Tuesday along with several other climbers taking advantage of favorable weather. There are 41 teams with a total of 378 climbers permitted to scale Everest during the spring climbing season. Only when it is sunny each May, climbers can attempt to scale the peak. Tuesday's climb brings 49-year-old Rita closer to his target of 25 times of Everest before he retires from high mountain climbing. Rita's two closest friends have climbed the peak 21 times each, but both of them have retired from mountain climbing. Rita first scaled Mount Everest in 1994 and he has been making the trip nearly every year since then. His father was among the first Sherpa guides employed to help climbers reach the summit, and Rita followed his footsteps and then some. In addition to his two dozens summits of Mount Everest, Rita has scaled some of other high mountains, K-2, Cho-Oyu, Manaslu and Lhotse. Sherpa tribes people were mostly yak herders and traders living deep within the Himalayas until Nepal opened its borders in the 1950s. Their stamina and familiarity with the mountains quickly made them sought-after guides and porters.