Pokhara observing 67th Annapurna Expedition Day

Pokhara : The 67 the anniversary of the first ascent of Mt. Annapurna is to be celebrated here by organising various programmes. The Annapurna carries the history of the oldest peak in the sector of country’s mountaineering as it had witnessed a historic exploit on June 3, 1950 with French climber Maurice Herzog reaching atop of the Annapurna I, world’s 10th highest peak on that day. The Annapurna Day is viewed significantly in Pokhara as the touristic development of this naturally beautiful city had began with the stay of expedition team arrived here to climb the peak. The peak had a notable contribution to pushing up tourism activities here. Later on May 29, 1953 Tenzing Norgay Sherpa and New Zealander together had put their first steps on the summit of the Mount Everest, the world’s highest peak, becoming the first people to scale the peak. The Trekking Agencies Association Nepal (TAAN) regional association celebrates the June 3 every year as the Annapurna Expedition Day by organising various programmes, according to Association Chair Deepak Adhikari. Among tourists visiting Nepal, 70 per cent come for trekking and 10 per cent of them arrive for mountaineering. “Nepal had caught attention of the world as a special destination for mountaineering tourism with the successful expedition of the Annapurna Peak,” he said, insisting on the need of keeping the prestige and importance of this Day alive. The Mount Everest is the first choice of majority of climbers/ attempters and the number of people climbing the Annapurna is relatively low, he said. When he got back to the history, it could be said that the tourist arrival in the town was so minimal before the 1950. With the arrival of Annapurna expedition (successful) team here, touristic development of the town had began formally. Promotion of Mohoriya village based at Dangsingh of Annapurna Rural Municipality is the focus of this year’s Annapurna Day, as stated by TAAN regional association former chair and National Tourism Entrepreneurs’ Association, Pokhara chair, Som Thapa. The peak is protected by the Annapurna Conservation Area Project, the largest protected area in the country stretching to 7629 square kilometers of area that includes the Annapurna range and some parts of Manag, Mustang, Myagdi and Kaski districts.

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