77 Indian hikers on their way to Everest peak

As spring's climbing season kicks in, 41 teams of Nepali and foreign climbers, including 77 Indian hikers, have embarked on a three-month expedition on Tuesday to reach the worlds' highest peak - Mount Everest.

"This spring's first ascent on Everest is likely to take place on Tuesday. The rope fixing team of Sherpas have already made their way to the summit and is planning to continue their works above so as to reach the summit tomorrow afternoon," said Everest Climber and famous liaison officer Gyanendra Shrestha from the Everest Base Camp.

A total of 378 climbers belonging to 41 expedition teams have received a permit from the Department of Tourism to climb Mt. Everest this spring. Of them, 13 are Nepali nationals.

The number of climbers getting permission this year is higher than the same season last year.

In spring of 2018, a total of 346 mountaineers of 38 expedition teams were granted permission to scale the highest peak. Spring is the main season to climb Mt. Everest and other peaks of Nepal.

Altogether, a total of 842 climbers belonging to 106 expedition teams have received permission to climb different 30 peaks including Everest this spring.

Besides Mt. Everest, Lhotse, Makalu, Amadablam, Nuptse, Saribung and Annapurna are major peaks for which the climbers have received permission to climb this spring.

This spring, a total of 92 climbers have got permission for climbing Lhotse whereas the DoT has given permission to 53 climbers for ascending Makalu, 49 climbers for Amadablam, 27 for Nuptse, 27 for Saribung and 23 climbers for Saribung.

The DoT has collected around Rs. 491.76 million in royalty this season by issuing permits for climbers to climb 30 different peaks.