POKHARA: Kurt Dimberger, the first climber of Mt Dhaulagiri -- the seventh highest mountain in the world -- was felicitated in Pokhara today at a programme held to mark the golden jubilee of climbing of the peak. Dimberger, an Austrian citizen, is the only alive person among the eight climbers who had reached the peak on May 13, 1960.
In the programme organised by local coordination committee of the Golden Jubilee Programme of Climbing of Mt Dhaulagiri at the International Mountaineering Museum, Pokhara, Tourism Minister Sharat Singh Bhandari, tourism entrepreneurs and other dignitaries also felicitated Angrita Sherpa who is fondly called the 'snow leopard'; Sherap Jyangbu Sherpa, who has climbed 11 out of 14 highest mountains in the world; Da Gambu Sherpa, another climber of the peak; Kami Sherpa, son of late summiter Nima Dorje; Kuniyaki Yagihara, a Japanese who had climbed the peak twice; Russian climber Valentine Vojudo; among others.
Speaking at the programme, Dimberger said that climbing Mt Dhaulagiri was really an unforgettable moment in his life and expressed his gratitude to the Nepal government for the felicitation.
Minister Bhandari, who was all praises for the summiters including Dimberger, said he was overwhelmed to get an opportunity to felicitate them.
Angchhiring Sherpa, chairman of Nepal Mountaineering Association, informed that the government had waived 50 per cent of the royalty for climbing Mt Dhaulagiri on the occasion of the Golden Jubilee celebrations of Dhaulagiri and made a provision of free visa to those climbers who had successfully climbed Mt Everest and Mt Dhaulagiri. |
