The expedition led by Lila Mani Poudel, secretary at the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers, will spend around 75 days in the Mt Everest region. [break]
During the period, expedition members will seek to scale the Island Peak and Mt Everest, apart from attempting to gather first-hand knowledge of the impacts of climate change on the mountain.
The 15 were trained on high-altitude climbing. All of them climbed the 5,500-meter Yala peak in the Langtang Himalayan range as part of the training.
“We aim to reach the top of Mt Everest between May 18 and May 25,” said Tourism Ministry Spokesperson Laxman Bhattarai, who will also participate in the expedition.
“We hope the expedition will support Nepal Tourism Year 2011 and encourage civil servants to take up challenges beyond table work,” he added.
The government has funded Rs 30 million for the expedition. Expedition members are aged between 55 and 27 and hold positions ranging from secretary to non-gazzetted staffers.
The Tourism Ministry, Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) and members of the tourism sector bid them farewell at a function organized on the NTB premises on Wednesday.
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