KATHMANDU: Secretary at the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Mohan Krishna Sapkota and President of the Union of Asian Alpine Association (UAAA) Inn-Jeong Lee jointly flagged off a 16-member expedition to Paldor Peak (5,903 m).

According to Santa Bir Lama, President of the Nepal Mountaineering Association (NMA), the UAAA joint Paldor Peak expedition is being organised to mark the silver jubilee of the establishment of UAAA. At least 16 climbers from Nepal, Korea and Mongolia will leave for the Langtang region tomorrow to attempt to climb the peak, which is situated in the Ganesh Himal range. The climbers hope to complete their expedition by April 16.

“The team will also clean the trails from Somdang village to the high camp of Paldor Peak,” Lama said, adding that the expedition would help promote the Nepali mountains as well as the upcoming Visit Nepal 2020 campaign.

The members of the expedition include record holder South Korean climber Migon Kim, Shang Li Ha, Kuk-Jin Sunwoo, Young Wook Kim, Young Choel Shin, Hai Kyun Shin, Jin Seong Kim, Jeong Sik Yu and Jae Chang Jin. “There will be two Mongolian climbers Gan Baatar and Elbeg Jargal as well as Nepali climbers Singi Lama, Pemba Sherpa, Galden Sherpa, Mandip Gurung and Bikash Gurung,” NMA’s General Secretary Kul Bahadur Gurung said.

“It was a decision taken during the UAAA’s general assembly held in Mongolia last October,” Lee, who is also the Visit Nepal 2020 goodwill ambassador, said. The expedition would place banners of UAAA, Visit Nepal 2020 and NMA to the top of the Paldor Peak, according to the Director General at the Department of Tourism, Danduraj Ghimire.

NMA, which coordinates for the expedition, had held the first UAAA joint expedition in 2010. “The main objective of this expedition is to increase and exchange the technical knowledge on mountaineering as well as increase brotherhood among the UAAA member federations,” UAAA Secretary General Christine Pae said.

Paldor Peak, one of the 27 peaks managed by NMA, was first climbed by Lan Howell and John Cleare in 1974.