MYAGDI: Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli arrived today in Narachyang, Annapurna Rural Municipality-4, Myagdi district.

He came to participate in the program organized by the Annapurna Rural Municipality to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the first ascent of Annapurna Mountain.

According to Bharat Kumar Pun, chairperson of Annapurna Rural Municipality, the diamond jubilee festival is being held to mark 75 years since the French climber Maurice Herzog first ascended the 8,091-meter-high Annapurna on June 3, 1950.

During the event, Prime Minister Oli will inaugurate the trekking route and an open-air museum at the Annapurna base camp, and unveil a statue honoring the climbers.

Along with Prime Minister Oli, Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Minister Badri Prasad Pandey, State Minister for Energy, Irrigation and Water Resources Kham Bahadur Garbuja, and others are present.

The route and base camp for climbing the 8,091-meter Annapurna lie within the geography of Narachyang, Annapurna Rural Municipality-4 in Myagdi, which borders the districts of Myagdi, Kaski, Manang, and Mustang.

Annapurna is known as the “eldest mountain” because it was the first peak over 8,000 meters where humans set foot. Three years after Maurice Herzog and Louis Lachenal’s successful summit of Annapurna in 1950, the world’s highest peak, Mount Everest, was climbed for the first time.

Lok Bahadur Pun, ward chairperson of Annapurna-4, said that the Annapurna Ascent Day is celebrated as a remembrance of the beginning of Nepal’s tourism development and mountaineering, and to promote the mountain worldwide.

All preparations have been completed for the diamond jubilee celebrations to be held at the very site of the historic ascent after 75 years.

Previously, the Annapurna Ascent Day was commemorated at base camps located in Kathmandu, Pokhara, and Kaski.

This year’s Annapurna Ascent Festival started on May 31 and will conclude in Pokhara on June 5.