Nepal Now / Stories / Archive 2016
202 Climbers Scale Everest On a Single Day
By Isha Balla ·
Published· Stories
A total of 202 mountaineers made it to the world’s highest peak, Mt Everest, successfully on a single day on May 19, Thursday, the ninth day after climbers were allowed to climb the mountain after the closure of around two years due to various reasons. Gyanendra Kumar Shrestha, chief of the mountaineering section of the Department of Tourism, said that the climbers including a team of military from the United Arab Emirates, scaled the highest peak successfully today. He said that other many mountaineers on the expedition are on their way.
Although the expedition to the highest peak of the world opened on May 11, the expedition came to a halt for two days (Tuesday and Wednesday) due to bad weather. In the six days after the expedition opened, 88 mountaineers including foreigners scaled Mt Everest so far, the department said.
The number of mountaineers atop Everest on the ninth day is more than double the total number of mountaineers who have reached the top of Everest in the first six days after the peak was opened this season and two days of interval due to bad weather. “We have received information that 202 climbers including 82 foreigners conquered the Mount Everest today. The number of the climbers may go up if we will be able to establish a contact with few climbers who are also supposed to reach the top of Everest,” he said.
With 82 foreigners now already atop Everest, 206 aspiring climbers, who have got the permission to ascent, are yet to reach the peak. A total of 289 climbers including a Nepali have acquired permits from the Department of Tourism to climb Everest this season, according to the DoT.
Shrestha predicts that a total of 150 foreigners and 400 Sherpa may make it to the world’s highest peak this year. “So far, the weather has supported the climbers. It seems that more climbers will scale the Mount Everest in the next two days,” he said.
Similarly, 400 ‘high altitude workers’ are either guiding or assisting these climbers of nearly 34 groups. Earlier on February 29, the government decided to extend the climbing permits of those climbers whose expeditions were affected by the deadly avalanche of 2014 and earthquakes in 2015. Climbers had abandoned their expedition due to the disasters for two consecutive years.
Source: Republica