KASKI: This year marks the 75th anniversary of the first successful ascent of Annapurna I (8,091 meters), and a diamond jubilee celebration is being organized to commemorate the occasion.
For the first time, the celebration will be held at the base camp of Annapurna (north), located in Myagdi district.
French mountaineer Maurice Herzog made history on June 3, 1950, when he became the first person to climb Annapurna I, accompanied by fellow climber Louis Lachenal and two Nepali Sherpas.
Annapurna holds special significance in mountaineering history as the first mountain over 8,000 meters in Nepal to be successfully summited.
The diamond jubilee program is being jointly organized by the Nepal Tourism Board Gandaki Province, Trekking Agencies Association of Nepal (TAAN) Gandaki, and Annapurna Rural Municipality, Myagdi.
Maniraj Lamichhane, Chief of the Nepal Tourism Board Gandaki, stated that the event will take place at the original base camp site in Annapurna Rural Municipality-4, Narchyang, where the first ascent was launched.
“We are celebrating this milestone at the very location where history was made, which will help further promote Nepal’s mountain tourism,” he said.
According to Lamichhane, 12 ambassadors from France, Europe, the United States, and other countries have been invited to participate in the celebration.
A commemorative trek will take place at the Annapurna Base Camp in Narchyang. TAAN Gandaki Chairman Krishna Prasad Acharya added that notable personalities from both Nepal and France will join the trek.
Among the special guests is a 14-member delegation including Mathias Emanuel Maximilian Herzog, the son of Maurice Herzog, along with other family members. Bharat Kumar Pun, Chairman of Annapurna Rural Municipality, shared that a 30-kilometer marathon race will also be organized from the base camp as part of the celebration.
Additionally, statues of Maurice Herzog, Louis Lachenal, and Nepali climber Sonam Wangchuk Sherpa will be unveiled at the base camp to honor their historic climb.
An open museum built at the base camp and the newly developed trekking trail from Narchyang to the base camp have been named the ‘Maurice Herzog Trekking Route’.
Chairman Pun also informed that Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli will inaugurate the trail and unveil the statues during the diamond jubilee celebration.
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