By Xinhua
Kathmandu : The Nepal government has named the Lukla airstrip and road to Everest base camp after the two summiteers, Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay Sherpa, the first to scale the world’s tallest peak in 1953.
Following a cabinet decision Sunday, the mountain airstrip of Lukla, some 130 km east of the capital Kathmandu, that Hillary built some 43 years ago, and the trekking trail from there to the Everest base camp will be called Tenzing-Hillary Airport and Tenzing-Hillary Route, the Himalayan Times reported Tuesday.
Confirming the government’s decision, Prithvi Subba Gurung, Nepal’s Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, said May 29, the day when the two climbers reached the Everest summit (Qomolangma), would be observed as the “International Mt. Everest Day” in homage to the two mountaineering legends.
New Zealander Hillary, who died last month at the age of 88, and Nepal’s Tenzing Norgay, who passed away in 1986 at the age of 72, climbed the 8,848-meter summit in 1953.
The Nepali government has also decided to name one of the Himalayan peaks after Hillary, Gurung said.