Nepal honours climbers to mark Everest diamond jubilee

Nepal on Wednesday felicitated some of the top names in mountaineering, including an Indian, to mark the diamond jubilee of the first human ascent of Mount Everest, the highest peak in the world.

Sixty years ago, Tenzing Norgay Sherpa from Nepal and Sir Edmund Hillary from New Zealand had climbed the 8,848 meter high mountain on May 29, 1953 for the first time in human history.

The summiteers felicitated today by Nepal's Tourism Minister Ram Kumar Shrestha included Reinhold Messner, the first person to climb Everest without oxygen, Furba Tashi Sherpa, the record 21-time summiteer and Ang Rita Sherpa who climbed the Everest ten times without oxygen.

Other notable names were Kami Sherpa, who climbed Everest three times within nine days, Arjun Vajpayee, the former youngest Everest summiteer of India and Frits Vrijlandt, president of Union of International Alpinist Association.

Nepal is also using the jubilee celebrations to generate awareness about climate change besides positioning Nepal in the international tourism market.

"Through this celebration the world will come to know about our culture, tradition and heritage," said Shrestha.

"This year the government has allocated substantial portion of the revenue generated from the mountain activities to the development of the mountain region," he added.

Speaking on the occasion, Tashi, son of Tenzing Norgay Sherpa, said: "We have learnt lots of thing about the culture, environment and heritage of the mountain over the last 60 years and we can utilise the knowledge and expertise to preserve the mountain and its climate for another 40 years or more."

The main function of the celebration will take place at NarayanhitiPalaceMuseum, where President Ram Baran Yadav will announce the Everest Declaration.

Earlier, a cultural procession was taken out in the capital city Kathmandu as part of the Diamond Jubilee celebrations.