6 female climbers reach atop Mt. Annapurna

Kathmandu, April 17

Six Nepali women have reached the top of Mt. Annapurna creating a record feat on the 8,091-metre tall peak, the Himalayan nation’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 became the first Nepali women the top of the mountain on Friday afternoon.

Bhisma Raj Bhattarai, section officer at the mountaineering section of the tourism department, told Xinhua news agency that these women reached the top of the mountain becoming the first to do so.

In 1978, two female climbers from the US 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 meters.

Mingma Sherpa, chairperson of Seven Summit Trek, one of five expedition organising companies for thw assent, told Xinhua news agency that a total of 68 climbers, including the mountain guides, reached the top of Annapurna on Friday, which is the record high on the mountain in a single day.

It beats the record set on May 1, 2016, when 32 climbers had scaled the mountain.

The Tourism Department has so far issued permits for 44 Nepali and foreign climbers to summit Annapurna. IANS