KATHMANDU: British mountaineers Kenton Cool and Robert Lucas became the first foreigners to summit Mount Everest after a deadly earthquake ended last year’s climbing season, an expedition operator said on Thursday. The mountaineers were accompanied by two local guides, Dorchi Gyalzen Sherpa and Pemba Bhote, and reached the top of the world’s highest peak at 8:15am (0230 GMT) on Thursday, said Iswari Paudel, owner of the Himalayan Guides Nepal, which arranged the expedition. The four-person team was the first to ascend the 8,850-metre (29,035-foot) high Himalayan peak after nine Nepalis reached the summit on Wednesday evening while fixing ropes for foreign climbers who plan to scale the mountain this week. “After today’s successful summit, Kenton Cool has become the first Briton to summit Everest 12 times,” said Paudel, who received the news from team members stationed at base camp. Hundreds of climbers abandoned the mountain last year after an earthquake-triggered avalanche at Everest base camp killed 18 people, including eight Nepalis working for Paudel.