16-year-old mountaineering prodigy aims to become youngest girl to complete 7 summit challenge
Tata Steel Adventure Foundation (TSAF) has announced its support for Kaamya Karthikeyan, a 16-year-old mountaineering star, in her maiden attempt to scale Mount Everest, the world’s tallest peak at 29,031.7 feet.
JAMSHEDPUR – The seven-week-long expedition, starting from April 6 in Kathmandu, was flagged off today by Chanakya Chaudhary, Vice President of Corporate Services at Tata Steel.
Kaamya, who has already scaled the highest mountains across five continents, will be accompanied by her father, Commander S Karthikeyan of the Indian Navy, on this challenging journey.
The young mountaineer’s impressive list of accomplishments includes being the youngest girl in the world to summit a peak above 20,000 feet and the youngest non-American to summit Mount Denali.
Kaamya is also the recipient of the Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Shakti Puraskar, the highest national award for citizens below 18 years of age.
"Mountaineering is one of the toughest popular sports in the world and it requires a very demanding regimen for the serious minded aspirants," said Chanakya Chaudhary, adding that Kaamya’s achievements at such a young age are truly astonishing and encouraging.
The expedition is expected to be completed in the last week of May, with Kaamya reaching Kathmandu on April 3 and beginning her trek to the Everest Base Camp on April 6.
Following a lengthy acclimatization period, she will attempt the final summit push, which is expected to take place between May 17 and 23.
Kaamya’s ultimate goal is to complete the "Explorers Grand Slam" by 2025, which involves climbing the highest peak on all seven continents and skiing to the North and South Poles, a feat currently held by Japan’s Marin Minamiya, who accomplished it at the age of 20.
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 world records as under:
(a) Youngest girl in the world to summit a peak above 20,000 ft.
(b) Youngest girl in the world to summit Mt. Aconcagua.
(c) Youngest girl in the world to ski down from the summit of Mt. Elbrus.
(d) Youngest non-American to summit Mt. Denali.
The following notable climbs of Kaamya to the highest points on five continents are truly inspirational for the young and emergent India:
|
Continent |
Peak |
Altitude |
Achievement |
|
|
(a) |
South America |
Mt. Aconcagua, Argentina (Feb 20) |
22,837 ft |
Youngest girl in the world to summit Mt. Aconcagua (World Record) |
|
(b) |
Africa |
Mt. Kilimanjaro, Tanzania (Oct 17) |
18,652 ft |
Second youngest girl in Asia to summit Mt. Kilimanjaro |
|
(c) |
Europe |
Mt. Elbrus, Russia (Jun 18) |
18,510 ft |
Youngest girl in the world to ski down from the summit of Mt. Elbrus (World Record) |
|
(d) |
Australia |
Mt. Kosciuszko, Australia (Oct 18) |
7,310 ft |
|
|
(e) |
North America |
Mt. Denali, Alaska, USA |
20,308 ft |
Youngest Non-American to summit Mt. Denali |
