KATHMANDU — British mountain guide Kenton Cool scaled Mount Everest for the 20th time, breaking his own record for the most ascents of the world's highest mountain by a non-Sherpa guide. Cool, 52, reached the 8,849-meter (29,032-foot) summit on Friday via the southern route in Nepal.

Cool flew from the mountain to Kathmandu on Sunday before talking to reporters. "Maybe another two or three more times," he told reporters when asked about future climbs. Last year, the guide from southwest England had said he would climb Everest maybe one more time before switching to other smaller peaks.

Multiple climbers and their Sherpa guides reached the summit in the last few days after a serac hanging over the climbing route forced them to delay their attempts until a short window of good weather opened. On Wednesday, 274 climbers scaled the mountain via the southern face in Nepal, setting a single-day record.

Nepalese authorities issued permits to 494 climbers this season, each accompanied by a Sherpa guide. Mount Everest can be scaled from the southern side in Nepal or the northern face in China's Tibet, but Chinese authorities closed the northern route this year.

Veteran guide Kami Rita Sherpa, who holds the overall record for Everest ascents, suggested limiting the number of climbers this year because the mountain was too crowded. Nepal's mountaineering authorities are working to introduce new regulations that would require climbers to demonstrate prior experience. At present, climbers are required only to pay a $15,000 permit fee to climb the mountain.

"It is the various companies being little more diligent on who they take, so they are making sure there is the experience of the climbers and then just being little more careful with when they want to climb," Cool said.