Kathmandu, April 17: A team of Nepal Army, which has joined a mountain cleanup campaign, has scaled the Annapurna I. The team led by Captain Suman Pandey reached atop the tenth highest mountain (8,091 metres) in the world at 8:55 am on Monday, according to the Directorate of Public Relations and Information, Nepal Army.
The mountaineering team, who conquered the mountain, included Lance Corporal Man Singh Chaudhary, army men Nabaraj Rana and Gyanendra Dangi and five guide Sherpas including main guide Tshering Jangbu Sherpa.
A mountain cleanup campaign on an annual basis is underway under the leadership of the Army under the national programme launched by the government. It aims to conserve biodiversity and ecology, it has been said.
As part of the campaign, a cleanup drive is ongoing in mountains including Mount Everest, Lhotse, Baruntse and Annapurna. Meanwhile, a 13-member team led by Lieutenant Colonel Kishor Adhikari, who set out to tidy up Mount Everest and Lhotse, has reached the Second Base Camp, it has been said. Similarly, a team that has set out to clean up Baruntse is reaching the Base Camp.
This year, it aims to collect around 35 tonnes of garbage from Mount Everest, Lhotse, Annapurna and Baruntse.