Kathmandu: The 71st International Sagarmatha (Mt Everest) Day is being celebrated in Nepal and elsewhere with various programs. The Day commemorates the first-ever successful summit of the world’s highest peak by Tenzing Norgay Sherpa and Edmund Hillary on May 29, 1953.
A morning rally was organized in Kathmandu at the initiation of the Nepal Mountaineering Association (NMA). Participants displayed banners and placards carrying slogans one of which read ‘’World’s Highest Peak-Sagarmatha, Identity and Pride of Nepal’.
Representatives of Trekking Agencies’ Association of Nepal (TAAN), Nepal Association Tours and Travel Agents Nepal (NATTA), Thamel Tourism Development Council among others tourism related organizations joined the rally.
The Sagarmatha Day celebration is being marked at a time when the number of people climbing the world’s tallest peak is increasing every year. Concerns are also being raised about global warming deteriorating environment of Everest and the Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH) region.
Scientists have warned that two thirds of the glaciers in the region will disappear in the next 70 years. Meanwhile, there also are growing concerns about the Everest region being dumped with garbage by the climbers.
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