Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, Badri Prasad Pandey pointed out the need of exploring safe alternative route to scale the world's highest peak, Sagarmatha, with a conclusion that the existing route to the summit was getting riskier.

The discussion held in the Ministry on Friday drew a conclusion to explore alternatives to the existing traditional route from Khumbu Icefall to Camp 1 since as it is quite complex and riskier for the climbers.

"Sagarmatha is the symbol of our national pride. Every year, thousands of foreigners and Nepali climbers come here to scale the summit. We should open up for secured, environment-friendly and sustainable solutions for their life saving", Minister Pandey noted in the discussion.

Also on the occasion, famous French mountaineer Mark Mari Batart and Nepali climber Sping Kaji Sherpa had presented comprehensive information about research, survey and photographic documents about the alternative route to highest peak.

Batart and Sherpa have been active in the campaign for exploring new route to the summit since 2018 AD.