Mt Manaslu, Mt Lhotse jubilee fests likely to be scrapped The golden jubilee celebrations of the first ascent of Mt Manaslu and Mt Lhotse scheduled for May are likely to be cancelled as the ongoing movement for democracy shows no signs of cooling down. However, international expedition teams, including one with the first woman summiteer of Mt Everest Junko Tabei, are on their way to Manaslu for the jubilee celebrations. “We are thinking of calling off the celebrations because of the unfolding events,” Ang Tshering Sherpa, president of the Nepal Mountaineering Association told this daily. However, a final decision will be taken in the next few days. “How can we ask foreign guests to visit Nepal at a time like this?” he asked. The Manaslu Golden Jubilee Celebration was scheduled to be held on May 9 in Kathmandu and Gorkha while that of Lhotse was planned for May 18. Mountaineering, according to Sherpa, is probably the only sector that has not been affected by the mass movement and curfew. The Tourism Ministry has issued permits to 45 expedition teams so far, of which 16 are for Mt Everest, said an official at the ministry’s mountaineering department. One of the world’s prominent mountaineers, Tabei flew as part of the nine-member “Manaslu Golden Jubilee Expedition Team” to Samagaon in a helicopter on April 19 and will soon proceed to Manaslu Base Camp. This will be sixty-seven-year-old Japanese mountaineer Tabei’s first attempt to scale the peak. Another Japanese, Chieko Shimada, who has scaled the seven highest mountains in seven continents is also a member of the team, said Ang Tshering. Another team under Japanese mountaineer Ken Noguchie left for Samagaon on April 14 as a part of the Manaslu clean-up expedition. The team is expected to clean the mountain upto a height of 8167 metres. The Lhotse Golden Jubilee Expedition and Chilian Lhotse Golden Jubilee teams will scale Mt Lhotse to mark the event. Lhakpa Sherpa, the only woman to have scaled Everest five times, is set to break her own record. “She is climbing the world’s highest peak from the Tibetan side via the Fantasy Route, which is considered the most difficult route,” said Ang Tshering. If she succeeds, this will be her record sixth ascent of the Mt Everest, he said.