Kathmandu, Mar 29 (IANS): Nepal's Department of Tourism announced that it has issued the first climbing permit for Mt. Everest for this spring season.

A nine-member team comprising US, Australian and Canadian climbers received the permit on Sunday for climbing the 8848.86-metre-high mountain, Xinhua news agency quoted the Department as saying on Monday.

April to May is the main season to summit the Himalayan mountains inside Nepal, in particular Everest.

"Two more teams are expected to receive climbing permits on Tuesday," Bhisma Raj Bhattarai, a section officer at the mountaineering section of the department, told Xinhua.

The department was expecting over 300 climbers to receive permits to climb the tallest mountain in the world in spring, said Bhattarai.

"After the Russia-Ukraine war, our expectation is that there won't be fewer than 250 expedition members to receive permits," he added.

In spring last year, a record high of 408 climbing permits were issued from the Nepali side, despite the Covid-19 pandemic.