The incumbent government has committed support to visually-impaired Amit KC in his attempt to scale Mt Everest this spring season. The cabinet meeting on April 7 decided to provide Rs 1 million in cash as support and waive royalty for his expedition, according to the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation.
KC, who originally hails from Jaimini Municipality-4 in Baglung district, has already completed all necessary training to climb the highest mountain in the world and has successfully climbed Mera Peak (6,654 m), Lobuche (6,119 m) and Island Peak (6,183 m) in a run-up to his Everest expedition. KC had returned from 8,000m on Everest in 2017 falling short of supplemental oxygen due to unfavorable weather conditions.
Lauding the courage of KC, Minister for Culture, Tourism, and Civil Aviation, Prem Bahadur Ale extended his best wishes for the successful summit of the 8,848.86m peak. Minister Ale also bade farewell to him at a programme at the Ministry yesterday.
KC intends to create a world record as the first visually-impaired Nepali to scale Mt Everest, the second in Asia, and the fourth in the world.
So far, three visually-impaired persons have already submitted Mt Everest. KC had returned from 8,000 meters of Mt Everest in 2017 falling short of supplemental oxygen, and due to unfavorable weather conditions.
Earlier this month Nepal News featured him and highlighted his historical attempt while also mentioning how he was looking for support to cover the necessary expenses as well and that the government had already given him permission to climb Mt. Everest along with financial assistance of Rs 1 million.
KC had told Nepal News that his goal is to hoist the national flag of Nepal at the summit.
After the Nepalese Government banned people with disabilities from climbing mountains, Amit KC went to the Supreme Court to file a case against the law. After the Supreme Court issued an order in favor of persons with disabilities, he began working to make his dream of reaching the summit of Mt. Everest come true.
The first blind climber to reach the summit of Mount Everest was Eric Weihenmayer of the United States in 2001. The second climber to reach the summit of Mount Everest was from Austria. Last year, China's Zhang Hong climbed Mount Everest as the world's third and Asia's first blind climber.
He had also given an interview to Nepal News earlier where he candidly spoke about his dream to summit Everest and the challenges he was facing. You can watch that interview here.
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