Malavath Poorna scaled world’s tallest mountain on May 25.
By Deepak Chitnis
WASHINGTON, DC: An Indian girl has become the youngest female to ever scale the summit of the world’s highest peak, Mount Everest.
Thirteen year-old Malavath Poorna’s accomplishment was confirmed this week by the China Tibet Mountaineering Association, which announced that she is now the youngest girl to have ever reached the top of Mt. Everest. She is also tied with 13 year-old California native Jordan Romero as the youngest person of either gender to reach the top (Romero scaled the mountain in 2010).
Poorna and a group of Nepalese guides made the dangerous 52-day trek to the top of the mountain, which lies 29,029 feet above sea level. The expedition was co-sponsored by the Andhra Pradesh Social Welfare Residential Educational Institution Society, which helped fund Poorna’s trip by helping her purchase the requisite tools and necessities.
A resident of Andhra Pradesh, Poorna comes from a family of poor farmers. She is also a dalit. Despite these apparent shortcomings, she was encouraged by her parents to take the difficult, and highly lethal, trip to climb Mt. Everest, which has claimed numerous lives over the last century as countless mountaineers have tried to conquer it.
Poorna and her group climbed the mountain from the Tibetan side. They were unable to go from Nepal, as the country forbids anyone under 16 years of age from even attempting the climb. Adding to how remarkable Poorna’s feat is, is the fact that this is the first time she has ever climbed any mountain of this kind; while most who attempt to climb Mt. Everest do so as the culmination of a long career in mountaineering, Poorna simply trained rigorously for eight before going on the trek.
At a press conference this week, she described how difficult the expedition was, recalling how menial things like taking a breath or walking forward one step became almost impossible once she and her group hit a certain altitude. At just under 11,000 feet, she even came across six dead bodies, which almost scared her enough to call the whole thing off.
But perseverance, mental fortitude, and religion ultimately helped her through, and on May 25, she set mountaineering history. Now, Poorna stands as a role model for anyone who has ever wanted to climb Mt. Everest, or frankly, reach just about any difficult goal. For girls, in particular, Poorna’s ability to complete such an incredible task and live to tell the tale will be remembered for years to come.
“I was very proud and I shed joyful tears,” said Poorna, at a press conference. She talked about braving conditions of minus-40 degrees Celcius, and having to navigate steep rocks to get to the top of the legendary mountain.
But now that she’s climbed the world’s highest mountain, will there be any more mountaineering for Poorna? She hasn’t said, but there are certainly other dangerous mountains left to climb. K2, which is the second-highest peak in the world, is generally considered to be even more difficult to climb than Mt. Everest.
This could just be the first of several records waiting to be broken by this audacious young woman.