151 aspiring climbers permitted for expeditions including for Sagarmatha

Kathmandu: The Department of Tourism has issued expedition permits for a total of 151 climbers from 20 groups aspiring to scale various mountains including the highest mountain in the world, Sagarmatha (Mt Everest) for this spring season.    
The Department under the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation shared that three permits have been issued for 8,849.86 metre-Sagarmatha for six climbers on Thursday itself.    
So far, a total of 7 climbers eyeing to summit Sagarmatha have obtained permit that includes member of Bahrain royal family, Sheikh Mohamed Hamad Mohamed Al Khalifa and his team.    
Department’s Mountaineering Section’s officer Bhisma Bhattarai shared that permits were given to the aspirants for Annapurna, Manaslu, Dhaulagiri, Lhotse, Pumari, Nuptse and Tukuche till date.    
The Department said that the team of ‘icefall doctors’, who fix the rope in the mountains, have already reached above the base of every mountain for which the permits have been issued.    
The Department started issuing permit for this year’s expeditions since March 15. The government had called off all adventurous activities including mountain climbing last spring due to the outbreak and spread of COVID-19.    
The Department assumes that there will be an impressive number of aspiring climbers obtaining permit for climbing various mountains in Nepal through their respective companies that facilitate their climb this year due to cancellation of all expeditions last year.