CHITRAL: The `Year of Terich Mir` festival will kick off from Sunday next (July 20) with the departure of the first group of trekkers from Chitral to the base camp of Terich Mir, the highest peak in the Hindukush Mountain Range.

Announcing the commencement of the event to commemorate the 75th anniversary ofthe first successful ascent to the peak, Director General of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Culture and Tourism Authority (KPCTA) Habibullah Arif on Friday said that the worldfamous peak was being promoted through local participation, with over 500 men and more than 100 women having submitted applications to join the trek.

Speaking at a press conference here, he said the provincial government was prioritising steps to promote adventure tourism in the region. `The Tirich Mir Summit is expected to further boost tourism in Chitral.

Mr Arif said that the provincial government had also signed a memorandum of understanding with an Italian Professor, Mr Pinelli, to set up an adventure training school in Chitral.

The second trekkinggroup to the Tirich Mir base camp, he added would depart in the last week of July followed by a third group in the first week of August, for which local porters had been included in the Tirich Mir Summit, which would directly benefit the local community.

The KPCTA director general said that the provincialgovernment had announced waiving royalty fees for the year 2025-26 as part of the festival as these fees typically ranged from $2,500 to $4,000.

`This initiative is expected to benefit not only Chitral and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa but also Pakistan`s economy in the longrun. `All these activities are basically aimed at promoting tourism across the province as per the vision of Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur.

Meanwhile, local tourists have appreciated the activity as an earnest effort to revive mountaineering and ecotourism in the Hindukush Mountain Range, where stood more than 200 peaks of height greater than 6,000 meters.