Seven personalities from different walks of life were awarded on Thursday for their contribution to promoting mountaineering and mountain tourism.

Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli conferred the International Sagarmatha Award to veteran climber Mingma Gyalje Sherpa (Mingma G), who was the first to climb all 8,000-metre peaks without supplementary oxygen.

He has made a name for himself and the country by stepping on the peaks of 14 highest mountains in the world without supplementary oxygen.

Similarly, Nepali authors Ankit Babu Adhikari and Pradeep Bashyal were conferred the prestigious Tenzing-Hillary Award in research and investigation category. The award presented on the occasion of 72nd International Sagarmatha Day celebrates their narrative non-fiction, Sherpa: Stories of Life and Death from the Forgotten Guardians of Everest.

Published in 2022 by Octopus/Hachette UK, the book places the Sherpa people at the heart of the Everest story, a perspective long overshadowed by foreign narratives.

Likewise, Tenzing-Hillary (Search and Rescue) Award was handed over jointly to captain Maurizio Folini, a renowned helicopter pilot, and climber Lakpa Norbu Sherpa. On the occasion, climber Nima Rinji Sherpa was conferred with Tenzing-Hillary (Record Making Climber) Award for scaling all the 14 peaks at the youngest age.

Oli also honoured Lakpa Sherpa, who has scaled the world’s tallest peak, the 8,848.86 m Everest 10 times, with the Pemba Doma Women Climber Award. She is the first woman climber to achieve the feat.