From Plain to The Peak (School Girls Scale Seven Summits)

From Plain to The Peak (School Girls Scale Seven Summits)
@Asim Deb, 1977 Electronics & Tele-communication Engineering

Climb if you will but remember that courage and strength are sought without prudence, and that a momentary negligence may destroy the happiness of a lifetime. Do nothing in haste; look well to each step; and from the beginning think what may be the end.
– Edward Whymper

In 1757 Swiss scientist Horace Benedict de Saussure made the first of several unsuccessful attempts on Mont Blanc, France. He then offered a reward to anyone who could climb the mountain, which was then claimed in 1786 by Jacques Balmat and Michel Gabriel Paccard. The event is usually considered an epochal event in the history of mountaineering, a symbolic mark of the birth of the world’s one of the most challenging sports. However, attempts to Mt. Everest summit is considered to be a crown, and on 29 May 1953, Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay could make it.

In mountaineering, the so called “Grand Slam” is Seven Summits, which are the highest mountain peaks of the seven continents:
Mount Everest-Asia (8,849 m, or 29,032 ft)
Aconcagua-South America (6,961 m, or 22,838 ft)
Denali–North America (6,194 m, or 20,322 ft)
Kilimanjaro-Africa (5,895 m, or 19,341 ft)
Mount Elbrus– Russia (5,642 m, or 18,510 ft)
Vinson-Antarctica (4,892 m, or16,050 ft)
Carstensz Pyramid–Indonesia (4,884 m, 16,024 ft)

Now let us know about the success of 3 school going girls who scaled all the seven summits.

Malavath Poorna
On 25th May 2014, Poorna Malavath, (born 10 June 2000) the little Indian girl, scaled Mt. Everest at the age of 13 years and 11 months, and became the youngest Indian female in the world to have reached the world’s highest peak.

File photo:
May 2014, Poorna Malavath, just a month shy of her 14th birthday,
after becoming the youngest female in the world to scale Mount Everest.

Officials says her achievement is even more impressive as she climbed Mt. Everst peak from the more difficult Tibetan side. Most climbers attempt Everest from the Nepal side, which is easier, but Nepal does not allow climbers under 16 years of age to scale the world’s tallest mountain peak.

At 13 years and 11 months, Poorna is just a month older than the world’s youngest Everest climber – American Jordan Romero who ascended the peak in 2010 when he was only 13 years and 10 months old.

After Mt. Everest, Poorna learnt rock climbing and mountaineering at Rock Climbing School, Bhongir near Hyderabad initially, trained and prepared by Transcend Adventures, and her logistic arrangements were supported by M/s Transcend Adventures, a Hyderabad based mountaineering expeditions company. She continued her journey of scaling Mt. Kilimanjaro (Africa) in 2016, and Mt. Elbrus, (Russia, Europe) on 27 July 2017. It was a proud moment when she unfurled the Indian tricolor and sang Indian National Anthem at the top of Mt. Elbrus. Her feat of climbing continued with Mt. Aconcagua (South America) in 2019, Mount Carstens pyramid (Oceania) in 2019), Mt. Vinson Massif (Antarctica), 2019), and thereafter other few Indian mountains. She completed her Seven Summits, scaling Mt. Denali (Alaska, North America) in 2022.

Poorna was born on 10th June 2000 in a tiny village, Pakala in the state of Telangana, India. Coming from a poor family background of agricultural laborers, she graduated from Telangana social welfare residential school (TSWREIS) and then went to Minnesota state university, USA as an exchange student where she studied Political sciences to understand woman empowerment.

A film “Poorna” (Courage has no limits), directed by Rahul Bose and based on Poorna’s life story was released in 2017. Then a book, “Poorna the youngest girl in the world to scale Mount Everest,” written by Aparna Thota was also published. Poorna was listed on the “Forbes Indian List” of “Self-made Women” in 2020. Some of the notable awards she received are the Ruby Jubilee Healthcare award from the then President of INDIA Sri APJ Abdul Kalam, The Excellence award by the President of India shri Pranab Mukherji, the Amazing Indians Awards 2016 from the Prime Minister Sri Narendra Modi, and the JFW Awards 2018.

Notably, her achievement could stop child marriages in her community and parents could realize the potential of sending the Girls to school. The schools have increased the number of girls students after her achievement from rural / tribal regions.

The Mountains We Climb Everyday: Poorna Malavath
“I was successful in climbing the mountain at a young age of 13 years with my sheer hard work, and the support of my mentor Mr. Praveen Kumar (I.P.S.), the guidance of my coach Mr. Shekhar Babu Bachinepally and the training at Rock Climbing School, Bhongir. But it was not just the physical mountain that I had to climb. If Everest was just one mountain to climb once in a lifetime, I had to climb one virtual mountain everyday!

No, I am not talking about the hardship of my training or the humble background. At the age of 12 years, I skipped meals and enjoyed a game of Kabbadi in the sun baked fields., I had to drink milk (loads of it), eat 5 to 7 meals a day, sleep adequately and finally not miss classes at school. Now, trying to do it every single day for almost a year, was far more difficult for a 12 years’ old girl like me, than the 12 hours climb to the summit from Camp-3! But then, my coach had put just one thought in my mind: The goal of standing on the top of the world.

Today, I am here at the University of Minnesota studying as an undergraduate. It’s been more than 5 years since I have stood on top of Mt. Everest.”

At the end, she says, “though, I still hate milk but I drink it every single day”
The Telangana government has awarded her with a cash price of Rs 25 lakh and also rewarded with 5 acres of agricultural land. Poorna, with a commendable financial standing, boasts an annual income ranging from 2 to 5 million rupees. Her impressive financial portfolio is underscored by a substantial net worth of ₹269 crore (approximately $40 million). This financial success adds another dimension to her multifaceted life, showcasing achievements not only in education and sports but also in the realm of financial stability and entrepreneurship.
Source: https://www.javatpoint.com/malavath-poorna

Kaamya Karthikeyan
Kaamya Karthikeyan, Indian mountaineer, at 17 yrs of age and a student of Navy Children School, Mumbai, became the youngest female in the world to complete the seven summits challenge in 2024. At 16 years of age, she also became the youngest Indian mountaineer and the word’s second youngest girl to summit Mt. Everest from the Nepal side. Earlier she scaled Mt. Kilimanjaro in 2017, Mt. Elbros and Mt. Kosciuszko in 2018, Mt. Aconcagua in 2020 (becoming the youngest girl in the world to climb the peak), Mt. Denali in 2022, and Mt. Vinson in December 2024.

Kaamya’s Himalayan odyssey started in 2015 at the age of only seven with a high-altitude trek to Chandrashila Peak (12000 ft). Then In 2016, she graduated to more difficult and higher treks like Har-ki Dun (13,500 ft), Kedarkantha Peak (13,500 ft), and Roopkund Lake (16,400 ft). In May 2017, Kaamya trekked to the Everest Base Camp in Nepal at 17,600 ft to become the Second youngest girl in the world to accomplish the feat. In May 2019, she trekked to the Brighu Lake (14,100 ft) and crossed the Sar pass (13,850 ft) in Himachal Pradesh. On 24 August 2019, Kaamya summitted on Mt Mentok Kangri II (6,262 m / 20,544 ft) which is her second successful climb above 6,000 m, proving her interest to conquer more heights.

Soon after completing the expedition, in 2019, she cycled from Leh to Khardung La (5,359 m), the highest memorable road in the world, giving her confidence to attempt Mt. Aconcagua, the highest peak outside Asia, (behind Everest). On Feb 20, Kaamya overcame all administrative, physical and mental hurdles to become the world’s youngest girl to summit Mt. Aconcagua. Soon she got the attention of international climbing community, She also got the attention of Indian Prime Minister, who lauded her efforts in his Mann Ki Baat of February 20.

Adding to the long list of wishes, the young girl planned for a cycling expedition from Kanyakumari to Kashmir, a distance of about 3,800 km, symbolizing national integration and spreading awareness on the importance of physical fitness, especially amongst girl children.

Mrika Nikçi
Born 6 December 2001, Mrika Nikçi is an Albanian mountaineer from the Republic of Kosovo. On 15 August 2019, a 17 years’ old, she became the youngest female in the world to climb all the Seven Summits, together with her father Arianit Nikçi (Albanian mountaineer). Her Seven Summit records:
Kilimanjaro-Africa, climbed January 29, 2018
Vinson-Antarctica, climbed on December 16, 2018
Aconcagua-South America, climbed 16 February 2019
Mount Everest-Asia, climbed 27 May 2019
Denali–North America, climbed on 20 June 2019
Mount Elbrus– Russia, climbed on 20 July 2019
Carstensz Pyramid–Indonesia, climbed on 15 August 2019

So, they scaled all the Seven Summits within 17 months, six hardest peaks (Vinson, Aconcagua, Everest, Denali, Elbrus and Carstensz Pyramid) summited for 240 days (eight months). Her story is part of the “25 Women” series UN Women Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia produced for the Generation Equality campaign, marking the 25th year anniversary of the Beijing Platform for Action.

At the Vinson Massif base camp, on a continent where -25 degree Celsius is a constant temperature, the heavy fog prevented their plane from flying Mrika’s group back to Union Glacier. They had to stay at the base camp for 11 days, breaking another record of forced stays there. “But we gave hope to each other every day. This is the best thing in the mountains – it’s all about teamwork.”

“When we were above 1,000 meters, which is called the ‘death zone’, you feel your body dying even though you have oxygen in you. It was this moment when my dad ran out of oxygen, and he couldn’t breathe properly. And that was the moment when I thought ‘what if I lose him’? It’s not what I want. I want to climb with him everywhere.”

Mount Everest showed Mrika how precious life is. “There were big avalanches. We saw a lot of people turning back without fingers, having frostbite on their eyes. Our team walked past the dead body of an Indian woman. We had to step over her, literally cling to her hand to go further up, because she fell on the wire we were hanging on to,” Mrika explains. “And then I understood that we have to give hope and love to people every day because we don’t know if we’ll be alive tomorrow.”

Mrika with the support of her father, begun with mountaineering when she was 13 years old. Mrika has climbed national and regional summits such as:
• Gjeravica (2,656), winter climb (highest peak of Kosovo)
• Jezerca (2.694), winter climb, highest peak in the Dinaric Alps in Albania
• Korab (2.794) (Macedonia–Albania border), the highest peak in Albania, winter climb
• Hajla (2,403) winter climbing (Kosovo)
• Maja e Titos (2.747)-winter climb (Macedonia)
• Maja e Zezë (2,528)–winter climbing (Kosovo)

During 2017 Mrika continued with her mountaineering activities by climbing 2 summits in Bulgaria, specifically the summit of the Seven Lakes in Rila with an altitude (alt) of 2,648 meters, and the summit of Musala 2,925 alt, the highest peak in Balkan. In 2017, due to the weather conditions that have undermined the safety of the mountaineers participating in the expedition, these summit attempts will need to repeat:
1. Mount Blanc– alt 4,880 m – attempt and climb up to the alt of 3,700 m (France).
2. Grand Paradiso– alt 4,061m – attempt and climb up to the alt of 3.650 m (Italy).

In 2018 Mrika continued with mountaineering and achieved additional success by climbing to another 2 summits, specifically Grossglockner – 3,798 alt (Austria), and one of the Seven World Summits, the summit of Kilimanjaro – 5,895 alt (Tanzania – Africa).

“You know what, when you decide to come and climb Everest, you prepare yourself that you are going to see dead bodies,” Mrika adds. “Maybe something can happen to you, your father, or whoever you’re climbing with, so you prepare. You see a dead body and it’s like, it’s ok. He’s gone. I don’t want to be like him; I have to move on.”
Her interview with CNN
“We saw dead bodies along the way. I think that maybe this could reflect negatively on her — she’s only 17 — but no, she passed that,” Arianit (her father) says. “It was just me, my backpack and my sled,” Mrika recalls. “I had to carry my own house everywhere”. “When I got back, I told everyone that it’s not about your age, gender or religion. It’s about who you are, what you are deep down inside and what you want to achieve in life.”
Malavath Purna concludes “I achieved something out of nothing”

Together with her family, Mrika founded an NGO, Mrika Seven Summits, to promote responsible and sustainable tourism and share her experience and the importance of teamwork with school students in Kosovo. “I’m planning to inspire young people to achieve their goals in a healthy way,” Mrika smiles. “And, with a lot of work and determination, you can achieve everything because this is what my project was all about – not giving up.”

Acknowledgement:
transadventures.com, https://rockclimbingschool.in/;
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-27599570;
https://sportsmatik.com/; https://bookofachievers.com/;
Newspapers: The Hindu, The Times of India,
Wikipedia,

******