KATHMANDU: A Chinese climbing team has summited Mount Lhotse (8,516m), the world's fourth-highest peak, on May 22, completing a rare back-to-back ascent of two eight-thousanders just two days after scaling Mount Everest, with a record-setting guide leading them on both peaks.

The China Dingfeng team, operating under 8K Expeditions, summited Everest on May 20 before pushing on to Lhotse, reaching the top in the early hours of May 22, according to Lakpa Sherpa, Managing Director at 8K Expeditions.

The Lhotse summiteers were Tian Yungui, Zhang Xuchai, Zhao Meilin, and Fu Jiaming from China, alongside Nepali climbing staff Pema Chhiring Sherpa (IFMGA Guide), Dawa Ongju Sherpa, Mingma Dorchee Sherpa, Dawa Nurbu Sherpa, and Nang Tenzi Sherpa.

Guiding the team on both summits was Pema Chhiring Sherpa, 43, of Gaurishankar-1 in Dolakha district, who had already scripted history on May 20 by becoming the only IFMGA-certified guide in the world to summit Everest 25 times. Among more than 7,000 IFMGA-certified guides across 28 member countries, no one has reached the top of Everest more times, according to Tulsi Gurung, President of the Nepal National Mountain Guide Association. Pema first climbed Everest at age 17 in 2001, received basic mountaineering training from the NMA in 2009, and achieved IFMGA certification in 2018.

Also on the Lhotse team was Dawa Ongju Sherpa, who holds an extraordinary record of 45 successful ascents of 8,000-metre peaks, along with 88 summits of various 6,000- and 7,000-metre peaks across Nepal, China, and Pakistan.

The team is descending to base camp, 8K Expeditions said.