PINAKI MAJUMDAR
Jamshedpur, March 29: Tata Steel Adventure Foundation (TSAF), India’s pioneering institution to promote adventure sports in the country, today proudly flagged off a new expedition to scale Mt Everest that includes one of India’s most successful and youngest mountaineers Kaamya Karthikeyan who will be making her maiden attempt to reach the summit of the world’s tallest peak at 29,031.7 ft.
The team which also includes Kaamya’s father Commander S Karthikeyan, of the Indian Navy was flagged off today by Chanakya Chaudhary, Vice President, Corporate Services, Tata Steel.
The seven-week-long expedition that will start on April 6 from Kathmandu is expected to be completed in the last week of May.
Four camps at Mt Everest
The expedition to Mt Everest summit requires a long acclimatisation period at Everest Base Camp for approx. 40-45 days including multiple rotations to higher camps.
There are four camps after the base camp en route to the summit viz. camp 1 at 6,000 meter after crossing Khumbu icefall, camp 2 at 6400 mt, camp 3 at 7300 m and camp 4 (South Col), at an altitude of 7,950 mt where climbers have to wait before favourable weather provides a window for final summit push.
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Kaamya’s trekking schedule
Kaamya will reach Kathmandu on April 3, start the trek on April 6 and reach there by April 13. She will then start the rotations and acclimatisation which lasts for more than a month-long period.
She will climb higher and come back to Everest base camp twice before climbing to camp 4 for the final summit push.
The first rotation will be to Lobuche summit at an altitude of 6113 mt and the second rotation will be to camp 3.
She will then start climbing till camp 3, move to camp 4 during the day once the weather window opens and try for the summit push which is expected to be in the week of May 17 to 23.
Apart from her own efforts, with everyone’s blessings, wishes and favourable conditions, post-summit, she will trek back to Lukla and fly back to Kathmandu by May 29.
Kaamya has scaled highest mountains across 5 continents
For Kaamya, while this is her first attempt at the summit of Mt Everest at this younger age, it is not the first major mountaineering endeavour.
Kaamya has already scaled the highest mountains across 5 continents in the world, many of which are considered a challenge for even healthy and fit adults. She has also summitted many Himalayan peaks, which also include a visit to the Everest Base Camp at the age of nine years.
Chanakya Chaudhary extols Kaamya’s ambitious quest to summit Mt. Everest
Chanakya Chaudhary said, “Mountaineering is one of the toughest popular sports in the world and it requires a very demanding regimen for the serious-minded aspirants. To see a young sports star like Kaamya, who has already achieved what may take more than one lifetime for most of us, is truly astonishing and encouraging at the same time. She is already a phenomenon in the global mountaineering circuit. We are delighted to welcome Kaamya and are proud to support her first attempt to scale the mother of all summits, the Mt Everest. I wish Kaamya all the best.”
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Kaamya a recipient of Rashtriya Bal Shakti Puraskar
Kaamya’s attempt to scale Mt Everest will be supported by her father Commander S Karthikeyan, an accomplished mountaineer himself who will be accompanying her on this great adventure.
Kaamya is the recipient of the prestigious Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Shakti Puraskar, the highest national award for citizens below 18 years, for accomplishing many unprecedented mountaineering feats at a very tender age including various world records.
