Katmandu: A record 68 climbers, including six Nepali women, have reached the top of 8,091-metre tall Mt. Annapurna on Friday, during an mountaineering expedition organized by Nepal's Department of Tourism.
These women -namely, Purnima Shrestha, Sharmila Tamang, Dawa Phuti Sherpa, Dawa Yangjung, Pasang Lhamu Sherpa, and Maya Sherpa are the first Nepali women to climb the top of the mountain, as told by Bhisma Raj Bhattarai, section officer at the mountaineering section of the tourism department,
Previously, in 1978, two female climbers from the US became the first women to reach the top of the world's 10th tallest mountain.
Annapurna is considered among the world's most treacherous mountains to climb due to its extremely steep south face, a wall of rock that rises 3,000 meters.
A total of 68 climbers, including the mountain guides, reached the top of Annapurna on Friday, which is the record high on the mountain in a single day,said Mingma Sherpa, chairperson of Seven Summit Trek, one of five expedition organizing companies for the assent,
It beats the record set on May 1, 2016, when 32 climbers had scaled the mountain.
The Tourism Department has so far issued permits for 44 Nepali and foreign climbers to summit Annapurna.