Govt employees to attempt Mt Everest

A team of 20 government employees, including a woman, led by secretary at the Prime Minister’s Office and the Cabinet Leelamani Poudyal is preparing to climb Mt Everest – the tallest peak on earth – next season.

Poudel made up his mind to climb Mt Everest while he was working with Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation two years ago.

The team will take basic and advance mountaineering training this year and the coming year and organize an expedition to Everest in spring next year.

The employees have already taken climbing training at the artificial climbing wall of Pasang Lhamu Mountaineering Federation and rock climbing at Nagarjun. They left for Rasuwa district in the third week of June to climb Yala Peak (5,550m).

A total of 49 government employees had applied at the Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation to climb Everest. Under secretary Baburam Bhandari said they had selected 20 employees through different tests.

The team led by Poudel has joint secretary Laxman Prasad Bhattarai, Durga Prasad Bhattarai, section officer Muktiram Rijal and office assistant Rukmini Gurung, among others.

The government has exempted permit fee for the expedition and is also bearing all expenses of the expedition. He said the government will allocate a budget of Rs 30 million for the expedition in the upcoming budget.

Apa reaches summit of Mt Everest, makes it 19

Legendary Everest summiteer Apa Sherpa (49 years old) has set a new record on Mt Everest by reaching the summit of the highest peak in the world for the record 19th time. He reached the summit at 8:30 pm on Thursday leading an Eco-Everest Expedition 2009.

Apa reached led the expedition to raise awareness about the impacts of climate change in the Himalayas. Apa unfurled a banner reading “Stop Climate Change, Let the Himalayan Live” on the summit. He also placed a bumpa, handed over to him by the Rimpoche of Tengboche Monastery Ngawang Tenzin Zangpo.

Mr. Apa Sherpa was felicitated by Nepal Tourism Board and other travel related associations on 26 May for his successful ascent of Mt. Everest for nineteen times. He placed a banner with a slogan of “Stop Climate Change, Let the Himalayas Live” on the summit.

Cricket on Everest !!

A GROUP of Londoners are to play the world’s highest game of cricket on a plateau on Mount Everest.

A team of British cricket players including England national skipper Andrew Strauss and his deputy Alastair Cook will be heading to Mount Everest this April for the first ever cricket match at the world’s highest place. The Twenty20 cricket tournament will be staged at the sprawling ground of Gorakshep (alt. 16945 ft/5164m) on the way to Everest Base Camp. To get it registered into the Guinness Book of Records, official rules will be followed. The match will have teams named Tenzing and Hillary after the first two men to conquer Everest.

As part of preparation, the team is warming up at Trafalgar Square. The match is also expected to raise 250,000 British pounds for Himalayan Trust which works to uplift Himalayan people’s livelihoods and Lord’s Taverners which helps young people in sport. The amateur players in the team include travel agents, chefs, Met policeman, bankers and lawyers. ‘

The event is being coordinated by Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN). After the match the team players will be handing over the gears to CAN as a memorabilia.

Everest Base Camp & Kala Pathar trek in December

I did an Everest Base Camp\Kala Pathar trek in December, and wanted to say a few words about the Himalayan Glacier Trekking Ltd. (Kathmandu), the agency I used for my trip. My contact, Naba, was a pleasure to deal with and couldn’t have been more helpful. He provided tons of great information and was a real help with all of my pre-trip planning. This was my first “major” trip, and I was really glad for his assistance. There was no pressure on booking and he was very easy to communicate with. He was especially helpful when my travel arrangements completely fell apart at the last minute due to November craziness with the Bangkok airport. He was flexible and accommodating with my ever-changing flight schedule. I also received the same high quality of service my entire time in Nepal, and he even checked on how I was enjoying the trek while I was on the trail via satellite phone.

My guide, Hira, was great to be on the trail with. He provided just enough “supervision,” but allowed me a good amount of freedom as well. He also pushed just enough for us to make fast progress, but it was never out of my comfort zone. He was also very conscious of high I was doing with the altitude. At the tea houses, he always made sure I was taken care of and included me in activities as much as I felt like. He was also able to share a lot of fascinating information about the region while we were trekking. Our Sherpa porter, Bai (Nepalese for little brother) was also great to travel with.

It was a wonderful trip, and I wouldn’t hesitate to use Himalayan Glacier Trekking for another trip. I would also work with Naba and Hira again in a second! If anyone has any questions or would like more information, just let me know.

My pictures on Snapfish

http://www2.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=257442463/a=159880343
_159880343/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish
Mr. Doug Hartwig
CA 92009
USA

Cartoonist Ronan Luri to exhibit on Everest

With a unique goal of sketching cartoons on top of Everest, famous American cartoonist Ronan Luri is coming to Nepal. Promoter of United Painting, Luri wants to use Everest as a platform to publicize about his experiment and has termed the expedition ‘United Painting on top of Everest’. Read more

Fundraising event for the MS Society – Everest base camp trek

I thought that a trek to Mount Everest Base Camp would be an adventure and a once in a lifetime experience and a great fundraising event for the MS Society. That is exactly what it turned out to be and Himalaya Glacier Trekking made it come true.

Read more

Evaluation of HGT after Everest Base Camp Trek

After looking at many trekking companies, we decided to go with Himalayan Glacier Trekking, which was based in Thamel in Kathmandu. As soon as we made an enquiry Naba and his staff were very helpful and organised a highly enjoyable trek.

We were a bit apprehensive at first about going trekking in Nepal, but Naba and his staff provided us with all the information we required, exceeding our expectations. Naba would often ring us up to answer any urgent questions straight away, and his email correspondence was always very clear and detailed.

We booked our flights in and landed in Kathmandu 2 days before the start of our trek. Naba had booked us into a very nice hotel right in the middle of the tourist district (Thamel) in downtown Kathmandu.

Naba and the guide we had been assigned, Prakash, met us at the airport and took us to the hotel. We spent the day settling in, with Prakash helping us to find all the right equipment we needed for our trek. We had dinner with them that night where they explained everything about the trek, and eased our last minute fears.

The day before we were to set off Prakash took us all arounf Kathmandu to the main tourist sites. It was a very enjoyable day and a great way to get to know our guide, who we would be with for the next 2 weeks. This was a great feature (free of charge) of the trek granted by HG Trek, as it gave us time to get to know our guide as the company put their customers enjoyment at the fore and make sure the guide is suited to the trekkers.

Prakash spoke English very well, was always polite and very patient with us. Everything before during, and after the trek was organised meticulously.

The trek itself was thoroughly enjoyable; Prakash always made sure our needs were met. Being my first time away from home, Prakash would always let me use his mobile phone to call my family back in Australia. I cannot speak highly enough of our guide and the company he represents. Our porter, which the company assigned, was a quiet, but very nice young man.

If I ever go back to trek in Nepal again, I will not hesitate in contact Himalayan Glacier Trekking. They are friendly, reliable, and will give you an amazing, and most of all fun experience that you won’t forget.

Need to see more trip pictures of mine then click it here.

David Power

Australia

Experience of a lifetime

I would definitely recommend Himalayan Glacier Trekking without any question. My hometown newspaper actually wrote an article about me and I have attached it here…

Jennifer DeWitt
USA

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