Indians have emerged as the third highest conquerors of Mt Everest among foreign climbers this season with 19 of them successfully climbing the world’s highest peak. While Nepalis retained their dominance on Mt Everest, after them, Americans, British and Indians had the highest number of summiteers on the Everest. Out of 156 people who reached atop the Everest, 39 were from the US, while 27 and 19 were from the UK and India respectively, according to Ang Tshering Sherpa, immediate past president of Nepal Mountaineering Association. This year altogether 92 expeditions were given permits to climb Mt Everest by government of Nepal, which is less than last year’s 100 permits. This spring season witnessed 375 ascents to Mt Everest from Nepalese side while 131 summits were made from the Tibetan side to the Everest.
Mt Everest was first summited by Edmund Hillary of New Zealand and Tenzing Norgey Sherpa, originally from Nepal and later took Indian citizenship, on May 29, 1953. Since then 5585 ascents were made to the Everest by 3448 climbers. Nepal’s Apa Sherpa set a new world record by climbing the Everest for 21 times this season. Indian climbers also dominated the list of records. The husband and wife duo from Haryana, Bikash Kaushik, 24 and Sushma Kaushik, 27, became the youngest couple in the world to reach the top of the world. Prem Lata Aggrawal, 45, from Jharkhand set another record as the oldest woman to scale the Everest. She reached atop the Everest along with the youngest couple on May 20. A 32-year-old housewife from Arunachal Pradesh, Anshu Jamsenpa, became the first Indian to summit Mt Everest twice in one climbing season while Tine Mena, also from the same state, became the first woman from North-East India to become an Everest hero.
Flight-Lieutenant Nivedita Chaudhary became the first Indian Air Force woman officer to conquer the Everest. Arjun Vajpayee, 17, a school boy from Noida, became the youngest person to climb Mt Lhotse (8,516 m), the world’s fourth highest peak. He had climbed the Everest on May 20, 2010, setting a record as the youngest Indian to reach the top of the world. Nepal government received USD 2,381,000 as a royalty from mountaineering this spring season and the total economic benefit to the country from the mountaineering is estimated to be USD 9 million.
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