KHUMJUNG: The sons of Tenzing Norgay Sherpa and Edmund Hillary led celebrations in Nepal on Monday to mark the 70th anniversary of the remarkable first ascent of Mount Everest.
The scaling of the 8,849-metre peak on 29 May 1953 changed submitting forever, making the New Zealander and his Nepalese guide household names worldwide.
In a school founded by his father in the remote village of Khumjung, Peter Hillary said that it was not just Tenzing Norgay and Ed Hillary that summitted Mount Everest, but it was all of humanity.
After this historical event, over 6000 climbers have summitted the world’s highest mountain in the past seven decades, according to the Himalayan Database.
It remains very dangerous, with over three hundred losing their lives in the same period, including twelve this year. 5 others are missing, putting 2023 on its way to a record-deadly year.
Nepal’s revenue from Everest
As well as supporting tourism, the speedy growth in the climbing industry has increased revenue for Nepal, which charges foreigners an Everest permit fee of 11,000 dollars.
Both climbers’ Family members joined locals and school officials on Monday morning to open the Sir Edmund Hillary Visitors Centre in the original building, which was established in 1961.
Butter lamps were lit before an image of Hillary and Tenzing, and their sons, Jamling Norgay, and Peter Hillary, cut a red ribbon to open the doors to the centre.
A renovated museum was also inaugurated in Tenzing Norgay’s name in Namche Bazaar, the largest tourist centre in the trek to the Everest base camp.
In Kathmandu, government officials and hundreds from the mountaineering community participated in a rally with celebratory banners.
