KATHMANDU:  A total of eight hundred and twenty-four climbers from one hundred mountaineering expedition teams have received permission to climb 27 mountain peaks, including Mt. Everest.

According to the Department of Tourism, three hundred and seventy seven climbers from thirty-nine teams have given permission to climb Mt. Everest for the spring season this year.

A total of three hundred and sixty four foreign climbers from 34 teams have been granted permission to climb the Mt. Everest. Similarly, thirteen Nepali nationals, too, received permission for scaling the Mt. Everest.

In the same season last year, three hundred and forty-six climbers of thirty-eight teams had acquired permission to scale the world’s highest summit.

The Department has collected Rs 487 million 419 thousand 662 as royalty from the climbers.

Official at the Department, Rameshwar Niraula expressed the belief that Rs 500 million would be collected as mountaineering revenue in this spring season. A total of Rs 435 million 255 thousand 912 have been collected as royalty by granting permission from Mt. Everest only.

Similarly, 92 climbers of 10 teams have taken permission to climb Mt Lhotse, 49 climbers belonging to five teams have acquired permission to climb Mt Ama Dablam, 32 mountaineers of five teams have got permission to climb Mt Kanchanjangha and 53 climbers from three teams have been issued permission to scale Mt Makalu.

Three mountaineering teams have obtained permission to climb Mt Annapurna and Mt Dhawalagiri each. Director General of the Department, Dundu Raj Ghimire said that almost all climbers attempting to scale Mt Everest have reached the Base Camp, while several have already reached Camp II and Camp III.