HEROES WITHOUT HYPE:

Nepali Climbs Everest for 17th Time (Sam Taylor, May 17, 2007, AP)

A Nepali mountaineer broke his own world record by summiting Mount Everest, the world's highest peak, for a breathtaking seventeenth time.

Mountaineering officials in Kathmandu said the staggering achievement by Appa Sherpa and his team was a proud day for the impoverished Himalayan nation, whose climbers have long been eclipsed by their higher-profile foreign counterparts.