Kenton Cool, a mountaineer from Slough, Berkshire, has climbed Mount Everest 20 times, setting the record for the most summits by a non-Sherpa in 2022. Despite being told in 1996 that he wouldn't walk again unaided after a fall, Cool has defied expectations and continues to climb the world's highest peak.
Early Life and Introduction to Climbing
Cool grew up in a bungalow beside a farm in Slough, where his father was a scout leader. He spent his childhood outdoors, building dams and dens, sleeping out, and hiding in trees. Family holidays in his teens were two weeks in Wales, and nature was his playground.
At 17, a school friend introduced him to a climbing wall. Cool loved the physicality and the challenge of figuring out where to place his hands and feet. They visited twice a week, and in sixth form, they headed to the south coast in Dorset for his first real climbing outing, which he described as scary, exhilarating, and magical.
From the Alps to the Himalayas
After A-levels, Cool and friends caught a bus to Chamonix in the Alps for five weeks of camping, where they climbed Mont Blanc and made mistakes like starting too late in the day. He later did a geology degree at the University of Leeds and joined the climbing club, organising a trip to Pakistan that became a turning point. He fell in love with the people and the climbing.
Over the next decade, Cool split his time between working in ski and climbing shops and climbing across Europe, New Zealand, and Asia. In 1996, he fell from a rock face, shattering both heel bones, and was told he wouldn't walk again unaided. After surgeries and three months in a wheelchair, he defied doctors and continued climbing and skiing high peaks. In 2003, his group was nominated for a Piolet d'Or after establishing a trail on Annapurna III, a 7,555-metre peak in Nepal.
Guiding on Everest and Setting Records
That recognition led to an offer from a Sheffield adventure company to guide an expedition to Everest. Cool, who had never been to 8,000 metres or led at high altitude, took a leap of faith. The ascent took eight weeks, and he relied heavily on Sherpa expertise. He loved facilitating someone else's journey and did three more Everest ascents for the company before setting up his own in 2006, now taking on one client a year with up to three years of preparation.
Cool has climbed Everest most years since his first ascent. In May, he clocked his 20th summit. There have been testing times, including a catastrophic oxygen delivery failure when they had to share tanks, and his hardest night in 2013 when a dying climber passed away in his arms. He also once pulled a dead Sherpa off the fixed line ropes, noting that the mountain doesn't respect experience—anyone can die there.
Record and Reflection
In 2022, after his 16th ascent, Cool took the record for the most Everest summits by a non-Sherpa, while Kami Rita Sherpa holds the general record. Cool still holds his record, though he says it has never been about numbers but about experiences. He acknowledges there will be a time when he stops climbing Everest, but it won't be soon. The mountain has given him everything, and he feels humbled by it, but it's the place and its people—Sherpas he has climbed with, locals who fed him or nursed him when ill—that mean the most. The mountain is simply the vehicle that got him there.
