SANGAM

Team hails itself for scaling Yala Peak

SANGAM PRASAIN

KATHMANDU, JUL 07 - A team of civil servant mountaineers are raring to have a crack at the world's highest peak after scaling the 5,550-m Yala Peak in Langtang as a warm-up exercise.

 

The 20-member group of mountain climbing bureaucrats plan to make an attempt on Everest during the next spring season. Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday, the expedition members said that the objective of their mission was to gather information based on facts and to keep themselves abreast of the impacts of climate change on the Himalaya.
The team also wants to help make Nepal Tourism Year 2011 a success through the participation of civil servants, said Lilamani Poudel, secretary at the Office of the Prime Minister.
“The Everest expedition by civil servants will help to boost their morale besides helping to gather information regarding mountain tourism,” said Kishore Thapa, secretary at the Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation.
The adventurous officials underwent extensive training at the Mountaineering Training Foundation last week under the guidance of seasoned climbers.
The government has allocated Rs. 3 million for the warm-up climb and Rs. 30 million for the Everest expedition.
Ang Tshering Sherpa, immediate past president of the Nepal Mountaineering Association (NMA), said that the country had tremendous potential in mountaineering tourism, and that the Everest expedition would enlighten the government officials on the kind of programmes and policies needed to boost the sector.
Pemba Gyalzen Sherpa, chief instructor to the expedition, said that the performance of the civil servants on Yala Peak had been more encouraging than he had expected.
“I had estimated that 60 percent of the team would be able to get to the top, but everybody made it,” he said. He added that Everest would be much tougher and that success would be determined by weather conditions.