ISLAMABAD: Nepalese Ambassador Tapas Adhikari hosted a reception on Monday night to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the first ascent of Mount Everest and to welcome Naila Kiani and Sajid Sadpara who conquered the world`s highest peak.

`It happened on May 29, 1953, when the 8,849 metre peak was conquered for the first time. We invited Naila Kiani, Sajid Sadpara, Mingma Sherpa and other climbers, who were in Pakistan, as special guests,` Tapas Adhikari said.

He described them as heroes, including Dawa Sherpa, who climbed Mount Everest 15 times. The ambassador hoped that tourism would improve by establishing direct flights between the two countries.

`Some of the renowned climbers from Nepal could not make it to the reception after their flights got delayed, which probably would not have been so if there were direct flights,` said Mr Adhil(ari.

Naila Kiani, who became the first Pakistani woman to summit six out of the 14 peaks above 8,000 metres in two years, said of the six peal(s, Annapurna in Nepal was the hardest peak to climb.

Talking to Dawn, Naila Kiani said temperatures were much colder on Mount Everest, and rock fall almost ended her attempt to summit the world`s highest peak.

`We had to quickly get out of the way or we could have died,` she recalled.

Talking to Dawn, Sajid Ali Sadpara who summited K2 in 2018, when he was 20 years old, said his aim was to summit all 14 peaks above 8,000 metres without bottled oxygen.

He made a failed attempt to summit K2, which is the second highest peak in the world, last winter.

`In the last three months spent in Nepal, I summited Annapurna and Mount Everest without oxygen.

There were 17 deaths which is quite a high number, he said.-Staff Reporter