Mountaineering entrepreneurs and Sherpas marked the 7th International Mount Everest Day 2014 amid various functions across the country despite the government decision to postpone the celebrations citing overlap with the Republic Day.
The International Everest Day commemorates the first ascent of Everest by Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay Sherpa on May 29, 1953.
The government is working to finalize an appropriate day for the celebration of Mount Everest Day and it will be done soon, according to government officials.
Madhu Sudan Burlakoti, chief of the Industry Division of the Tourism Ministry, said that a day in the month of October when three to four mountains were scaled for the first time could be chosen for the celebration.
As the Day clashes with the Republic Day, most of the government officials remain busy at various programs, according to Burlakoti.
But Ang Tsering Sherpa, president of Nepal Mountaineering Association, Nepal, was not satisfied with the government’s argument.
The celebration of Everest Day is an international event so there is no point in observing it on other days, Sherpa said. “I urge the government to celebrate the day on the appropriate day in the coming years,” he said.
Still, Burlakoti acknowledged the government’s difficulty in holding the two important events on the same day.
During the celebration of the historic day in Kathmandu, the participants that included Everest climbers, trekking companies, and representatives from mountaineering organizations followed Kancha Sherpa, 81, the only surviving member of the first expedition to climb Mt Everest, who had led the rally. The rally marched from Sanchaya Kosh Building, Thamel and passed through different parts of the city.
On the eve of the 7th International Mount Everest Day, a candle walk procession was organized in Kathmandu to commemorate the historic day and in memory of 16 Sherpa guides who died in the deadliest avalanche that struck on April 18.
Source: myrepublica.com
Date: 30 May, 2014
