KATHMANDU (AFP) - A Nepalese climber was confirmed on Monday as the first woman to scale Mount Everest twice in a single season, Guinness World Records said, after she made the second summit within days of the first.

Chhurim Sherpa, 29, reached the 8,848m peak on May 12 last year before returning to base camp for a well-earned rest and then repeating the stunning feat a mere week later.

"I am very happy for this recognition. I was determined that the record should be held by a Nepalese woman and I'm proud to be one," said Ms Sherpa, from Nepal's eastern hills.

Another Sherpa, Ms Pasang Lhamu, died on her descent after becoming the first Nepalese woman to reach the summit of the world's tallest mountain in 1993.

Her feat was followed by 21 Nepalese women but no female climber in the world had ever managed two ascents in one season before Chhurim Sherpa.

"Climbing Everest turns out to be very tough for women like me because there are no toilets. Five of us had to share a tent," she told reporters at a ceremony in the capital Kathmandu to hand her the official record certificate.

Around 3,000 people have made it to the top of Everest since Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay first conquered it in 1953.

The summit season on Everest begins in late April when a small window between spring and the summer monsoon offers the best conditions for making the ascent.