Nepal marked its annual Everest Day yesterday at the close of what authorities said was a “successful” climbing season, after two years scarred by major accidents.
Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli honoured the nine Sherpa climbers who had reached the top of Everest on May 11 to prepare the mountain for the climbers to come.
The Nepalis were handed a cheque of 50,000 rupees each ($470).
“They did the job of rope fixing, putting their lives in jeopardy, and their achievement is reflected in the successful ascent of Everest by more than 400 climbers in spring season,” the president of the Nepal Mountaineering Association, Ang Tshering Sherpa, said.
Out of the 400, 289 were foreign climbers.
The government described the season as “successful” although it was not without tragedy.
Three Indians, one Australian woman, a Dutchman and a Sherpa guide who was fixing the ropes, died on the mountain.
More than 4,000 people have climbed Everest since the first ascent in 1953.
Nearly 300 people have died trying to climb the world’s highest peak.
Everest expeditions in 2014 were cancelled after 16 Sherpas died in an avalanche on the Khumbu icefall (4,900m).
In 2015, an avalanche triggered by a 7.8-magnitude quake in Nepal killed 19 mountaineers on the Everest Base Camp.