Jharkhand-based Tata Steel Adventure Foundation (TSAF), among the country’s pioneering institutions to promote adventure sports, has decided to support 16-year-old mountaineering star Kaamya Karthikeyan’s maiden attempt to scale Mount Everest.
The expedition of India’s youngest mountaineer to scale the world’s tallest peak (29,031.7 feet) was flagged off from Jamshedpur on Friday by Tata Steel vice-president corporate services Chanakya Chaudhary. The team also includes Kaamya’s father S. Karthikeyan, a commander with the Indian Navy.
The seven-week-long expedition that will start from April 6 from Kathmandu is expected to be completed in the last week of May.
“The expedition to Mt Everest summit requires a long acclimatisation period at Everest Base camp for approximately 40-45 days, including multiple rotations to higher camps. There are four camps after base camp en route to the summit. At camp four at an altitude of 7,950 meet climbers have to wait before favourable weather provides a window for the final summit push,” said TSAF senior official Hemant Gupta, also an Everest summit climber.
He informed that Kaamya will reach Kathmandu on April 3,
“Apart from her 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,” added an official at TSAF.
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 five continents, 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.
Mumbai-based 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 of being the youngest girl in the world to summit a peak above 20,000 ft, youngest girl in the world to summit Mt. Aconcagua, the youngest girl in the world to ski down from the summit of Mt. Elbrus.
Kaamya’s attempt to scale Mt Everest will be supported by her father, who is also an accomplished mountaineer. He will accompany her on this great adventure.