Six women become the first Nepali women to climb 8,091-metre Annapurna I
They were among 68 that reached the summit on Friday, the highest number to do so on a single day. The ascent is also the first time a mountain in Nepal has been climbed in nearly two years. Photojournalist Purnima Shrestha during her acclimatization on Mt Annapurna last week. Photo Courtesy: Purnima Shrestha
A record 68 climbers, including six Nepali women, reached the top of 8,091-metre Annapurna I on Friday, the first successful mountaineering expedition this year.
Purnima Shrestha, Dawa Yangjung, Dabhuti Sherpa, Pasang Lhamu Sherpa, Sharmila Tamang and Maya Sherpa became the first Nepali women to climb the mountain, 43 years after the first time two women—from the United States—reached the top in 1978.
Priyanka Mangesh Mohite, also became the first Indian woman to summit the Annapurna I.
This is the highest number of climbers reaching the top of the mountain on a single day. It beats the record set on May 1, 2016, when 32 climbers had climbed the mountain.
Annapurna, the 10th highest mountain in the world, is considered to be among the world's most treacherous mountains to climb with an extremely steep south face—a wall of rock that rises 3,000 meters.
According to Mingma Sherpa, chairman of Seven Summit Treks, organiser of one of the expeditions on the mountain, the climbers after a failed attempt on Thursday, because of insufficient rope to fix the route above 7,400m, reached the summit on their second try.
“The first climb was reported at 1:30am and it continued until 4:30pm,” said Sherpa.
The Department of Tourism has so far issued permits for 44 Nepali and foreign climbers to climb Annapurna I. The number of climbers that climbed the mountain Friday also includes high altitude mountain guides for whom permits are not issued.
There were no mountaineering expeditions in Nepal last year because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
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