Kathmandu, April 28:

The golden jubilee celebrations of the first ascent of Mt Manaslu and Mt Lhotse have been postponed to December due to the recent turn of events. The celebrations were originally scheduled for May.

However, the Mt Manaslu and Mt Lhotse golden jubilee celebrations committees will “symbolically” observe the occasion by holding small programmes in Kathmandu.

“We have postponed the main celebrations of the first ascent of Mt Manaslu and Mt Lhotse because of the changed situation. Foreign climbers were sceptical of visiting the country in May,” Ang Tshering Sherpa, president of the Nepal Mountaineering Association, the implementing agency of the events, told this daily.

The Manaslu golden jubilee celebrations were scheduled to be held on May 9 in Kathmandu and Gorkha while that of Lhotse were planned for May 18.

Minoro Higeto, one of the Manaslu summitteers from Japan including climbers and participants from Japan, Slovenia, the USA, France, Switzerland and other countries were scheduled to participate in the fests.

Various countries, including the US issued negative travel advisories against Nepal, discouraging their citizens from visiting Nepal. The US State Department’s advice to its non-emergency staffers to immediately leave Nepal also had a negative impact, according to Sherpa.