Kathmandu, May 2
A record number of climbers are attempting to scale the highest mountain in the world this spring as Nepal issues the highest number of Everest climbing permits in history for the season.
According to the Department of Tourism, 466 climbers from 43 groups have obtained permit. Among them 98 are female and the remaining 368 are male, says the department.
Climbers eyeing to scale Everest (Sagarmatha) this season are from 65 countries including Nepal, as per the statistics of the department. From Nepal, 15 climbers have received the permit.
Similarly, 96 climbers from China have got the permit followed by 89 from the USA and 40 from India. Likewise, 33 from Hungary have acquired the permit, 21 from Canada, 18 from Russia and 15 from the UK among others.
Former president of the Nepal Mountaineering Association, Ang Tshering Sherpa, opines that the number of climbers obtaining Everest climbing permits from Nepal might have increased considerably as climbing from the Tibet side (northeast ridge route) is not permitted since the Covid pandemic.
It has been 70 years since humans first set their feet at the top of Mt Everest. Tenzing Norgay Sherpa and Edmund Hillary successfully reached Everest’s top on May 29, 1953. Since then, around 7,000 national and international climbers have successfully climbed the 8,848.86-metre mountain while over 300 have lost their lives attempting it to date, according to the department.
In 2022, 323 climbers from 44 groups had obtained Everest climbing permits, informs Bigyan Koirala at the Mountaineering Section of the department.
