International Everest Day celebrated

The 15th International Sagarmatha (Mt Everest) Day was observed today in Nepal and aboard with various programmes.

The Day is marked on May 29, each year in commemoration of the first successful human ascent of the world’s highest peak. Two climbers Tenzing Norgay Sherpa and Edmund Hillary had set a world history by reaching atop of the peak on May 29 on 1953.

In Nepal, the Day is celebrated on Jeth 15 in the lunar calendar each year as the Sagarmatha Day and this coincides with the Republic Day as well.

Hillary died on January 11, 2008 after 40 years of the passing away of his fellow climber Sherpa (9th May, 1986).

Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Prem Bahadur Ale, tourism secretary Maheshwor Neupane, distinguished personalities in the tourism industry, noted climbers and tourism entrepreneurs were among those joining a celebration organised by the Sagarmatha Day main organising committee here today.

On the occasion, Nepal Mountaineering Association chair Santabir Lama spoke about the need to make mountaineering safe and professional. Record-holder mountaineer Kamirita Sherpa said the bodies concerned should pay attention towards addressing the problems faced by the Sherpa mountain guides.

Department of Tourism director-general Taranath Adhikari, shed light on the rationale of marking the Sagarmatha Day. He announced the names of various persons awarded on the occasion.

Accordingly, the International Sagarmatha Award carrying a purse of Rs 100 thousand has been presented to renowned mountaineer Nirmal Purja, the Tenzing Hillary Award with a cash prize of Rs 50 thousand has been presented to Tashi Lhakpa Sherpa, Mingma Gyaljen Sherpa, Khimlal Gautam and Dawa Sherpa who have made notable contribution to mountaineering tourism. Tourism Minister Ale handed all these awards to the winners.

Prior to the official programme, a procession was held from local Thamel to the programme venue. Tourism entrepreneurs and stakeholder organisations participated in the procession.

So far around 7,000 Nepali and foreign mountaineers have successfully climbed atop the world's highest peak. There is competition among the mountaineers to climb this tallest peak and old records are being broken and new ones being set over the years.

Kamirita Sherpa made the latest world record by summiting Mt Everest for the 26th time. He had scaled the world's highest peak for the first time in 1994. Similarly, Appa Sherpa has scaled Sagarmatha 21 times while other mountaineers had set new records in various categories of mountaineering.

As per the 'Mountaineering in Nepal, Facts and Figures-2020' published by the Department of Tourism, 6507 climbers have successfully climbed Sagarmatha since a Nepali Tenzing Norgey Sherpa and New Zealander Sir Edmund Hillary first climbed the world's tallest mountain.

The number of women climbers ascending Mt Everest so far has reached 471. Japanese, Junko Tabei was the first woman to climb Sagarmatha. She scaled it on May 16, 1975. Pasang Lhamu Sherpa is the first Nepali woman to climb the world's highest peak. She made history successfully climbing it on April 22, 1993.