Foreign mountaineers who have climbed Mount Everest and another peak will get free Nepali visas for two years which is part of part of tourism promotion schedule launched under the Nepal Tourism Year 2010.

More than 4,000 climbers have scaled the 8,850 metre (29,035 feet) Everest summit since it was first climbed by New Zealander Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay Sherpa in 1953. Some 700 of these foreigners are still alive.

Climbers will also get a 50 percent discount in climbing fees for Dhaulagiri for the rest of 2010 and all of next year as part of the celebrations, according to the Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation. Each foreign climber has to pay $5,000 to Nepal  government as royalty for climbing Dhaulagiri. nepalnews.com