'Super Sherpa' Ascends Everest for 21st Time

Today, a happier story from Mount Everest: A 51-year-old Nepalese climber nicknamed the "Super Sherpa" reached the summit for the 21st time, beating his own record. Apa Sherpa and five others climbed all night in conditions organizers called "perfect," as part of the annual Eco Everest campaign to raise awareness about climate change and clean up trash on the mountain.

Sherpa first scaled Everest in 1990, and dedicated his last four climbs to the campaign after noticing that rising temperatures were causing climbing to be more dangerous. "The snow along the slopes had melted, exposing the bare rocks underneath, which made it very difficult for us to walk up the slope as there was no snow to dig our crampons into," he tells AFP. (More Mount Everest stories.)