Everest done, plans 7 summits before 18

Mudita Girotra

On May 15 this year, a teenage girl from Haryana embarked on the very challenging task of climbing Mount Everest from the Nepal side. But having dropped her radio transceiver during the trek, she couldn’t inform anyone about her whereabouts.

As no one was able to contact her, there was fear that 16-year-old Shivangi Pathak might have lost her life in one of the world’s toughest mountain terrains.

After a tense 10 hours, the happy news was received and, later, her family in Hisar got to know about her feat — she had become the youngest Indian woman to scale the highest peak of the Himalayas. “We were extremely worried about her safety. Our whole family kept praying for hours for her safety. We are so proud of her. She achieved what she was determined to,” says Shivangi’s mother Aarti Pathak, 42.

Now a celebrity, the journey of this go-getter girl began with a joke made by her mother. “We got to hear of Everest climber Mamta Sodha being appointed as DSP. I jokingly told Shivangi to do something as big so she gets a similar job,” says Aarti.

Shivangi saw some videos on Arunima Sinha, the first Indian amputee to climb the peak. Inspired by her feat, Shivangi, in November 2016, decided to climb the Everest.

She trained herself for just over a year to prepare for the challenge. Trainer Rinku Pannu, whom she approached initially, criticised her for being “too stylish” with her hair. “She asked me if I have come to the ground or for a fashion walk. I was fat, and had long hair then,” Shivangi recalls. “It hurt. I thought that maybe I am dreaming too big. I started shaping myself, according to the requirements of the sport. I got my hair cut very short, started training under Rinku Pannu.”

Shivangi didn’t attend school and dedicated all her time to preparations. One training session of six to seven hours every day included a 10-km run, weightlifting, and rope-skipping. She was made to run with a backpack of 20 kg on her shoulders. “At times, she would tie ankle weights and run. When tired, she put them on her wrist,” says her 27-year-old trainer.

On April 1, she landed in Nepal from where she trekked up to the base camp where she reached by April 5. This was followed by over two weeks of acclimatisation. Finally, on May 10, she began her “Everest Mission”.

“The route was full of stones and pebbles, and it was very slippery. A storm hit the range a day before I reached the summit,” says Shivangi.

“Ice on the way was very hard. It wouldn’t break. Stepping on it would make us slip. I also fell sick due to weather conditions, but I refused to give up,” she says.

She was accompanied by a Nepalese guide, Ang Temba Sherpa. On May 15, at 8.21 am, she made it. “The first person on my mind was my mother. I desperately wanted to embrace her. I was so happy, I made her proud.” “I feel girls can do anything. They can go anywhere. They just have to make up their mind and have faith and determination,” she adds. Her next target is to climb to the highest summits of other continents before she turns 18. “Seven summits before 18,” she says.

Pannu (her coach) says that this is going to be a cakewalk for her. — IANS