KATHMANDU, Apr 17 (NNN-NEPALNEWS) – Six Nepali women reached the top of Mt. Annapurna yesterday, in the first-ever ascent of Nepali women on the 8,091-metre high mountain, Nepal’s Department of Tourism and an expedition organising company, said.
Purnima Shrestha, Sharmila Tamang, Dawa Phuti Sherpa, Dawa Yangjung, Pasang Lhamu Sherpa, and Maya Sherpa reached the top of the mountain yesterday afternoon, they said.
Mingma Sherpa, chairperson of Seven Summit Trek, one of five expedition organising companies for yesterday’s assent on Mt. Annapurna, said, the six women became the first Nepali women to reach the top of this mountain. “This is a great achievement for them and the Nepali women,” he said.
Bhisma Raj Bhattarai, section officer at the mountaineering section of the tourism department, said, these women reached the top of the mountain becoming the first to do so.
In 1978, two female climbers from the U.S. became the first women to reach the top of the world’s 10th tallest mountain. Annapurna is considered among the world’s most treacherous mountains to climb, due to its extremely steep south face – a wall of rock that rises 3,000 metres.
According to Sherpa, yesterday, a total of 68 climbers, including the mountain guides, reached the top of Mt. Annapurna, which is a record high on the mountain in a single day. It beats the record set on May 1, 2016, when 32 climbers scaled the mountain. Even though Nepal’s tourism department has so far issued permits for 44 Nepali and foreign climbers to climb Annapurna, the number of climbers that scaled the mountain yesterday also included high altitude mountain guides for whom permits are not issued.
