Great Himalaya Trail team reaches Gorkha

On his historic trek on the Great Himalaya Trail Apa Sherpa and his team reached Gorkha today on the 52nd day of the trek.
After walking 720-km since it began, Apa and his team were welcomed and felicitated by the local villagers in Tallo Durbar of Gorkha district today, according to Great Himalya Trail Development Programme.
The chief guest state minister for Tourism and Civil Aviation Dilip Maharjan, joint secretary at the ministry Balkrishna Ghimire also attended the programme, where Apa said that he was honoured to be a part of GHT-CSCT organised by Himalayan Climate Initiative.
"My own life exemplifies how tourism helps a climate victim," he said, adding that Great Himalaya Trail is Nepal’s response to Climate Change. "We must convert the idea to action now."
"The government is fully committed to build Great Himalaya Trail as one of the greatest tourism products of Nepal," Maharjan said, adding that the fact that it helps to deal with Climate Change makes it even more significant for Nepal.
"Building Great Himalaya Trail as the world’s first climate smart trail will make Nepal a global leader in addressing Climate Change in ways that are economically beneficial and socially inclusive," the event lead of GHT-CSCT and the chief executive of HCI Prashant Singh said, "With the massive support of partners we are confident to make it a reality soon."
The renowned mountaineer Apa Sherpa, who has climbed Mt Everest a world record 21 times, has been walking on the Great Himalaya Trail (GHT) – Climate Smart Celebrity Trek since January 15. He will be walking the 1700-km and 120-days long trek to highlight the impacts of climate change in the Himalayas, and to promote Great Himalaya Trail.
During the historic trek he will visit hundreds of villages meeting thousands of people to interact and more importantly to share their views with the world.Apa is accompanied by a two-times Mt Everest Summiteer, a climate-activist and a blogger Dawa Steven Sherpa; a climate champion, journalist, videographer and blogger Saurav Dhakal and photographer Sameer Jung Thapa.
The trek is aptly named Climate Smart Trek, as Apa and his entourage are making every effort to keep their activities during the trek environment friendly and less carbon intensive.
In the end, the trek will be converted to a carbon neutral effort by buying carbon offset to neutralise unavoidable carbon emissions. Himalayan Climate Initiative (HCI) — the organiser of the historic trek — is a civil society led national initiative to build a peaceful, prosperous and climate resilient Nepal, and to establish environmental, social and economic significance of the Himalayas across the globe.