Kathmandu, June 8: His Majesty the King granted audience to Babu Chhiri Sherpa, who scaled Mt. Sagarmatha or Everest within the shortest time, at the Royal Palace today.

Mr Sherpa scaled the world’s highest peak in a new world record time of 16 hrs 56 minutes on May 21, 2000.

On the occasion Mr Sherpa presented to His Majesty the King the national flag of Nepal which he had unfurled atop Mt. Sagarmatha when he set the world record by spending the 21 hrs without oxygen on the summit last year.

Chairman of the expedition organising committee Rajendra Bahadur Shrestha and some other members of the committee were also present on the occasion.

Also today, His Majesty granted audience to Miss Pemba Doma Sherpa, the first Nepali woman to scale the world’s highest peak (Mt. Sagarmatha) via the northern face from the Tibet Autonomous Region of the People’s Republic of China.

Miss Sherpa also presented to His Majesty the King the national flag she had had flown atop Mt. Sagarmatha when she achieved the feat on May 19, 2000.