Nine Year Old Mountaineer From Vizag Reaches Everest Basecamp

Andhra Pradesh seems to just not stop conquering the Mount Everest in some form or the other. First, there was the woman mountaineer Neillima Pudota who reached the summit, then recently there were six students from the state who had done the same. Now, nine-year-old Kaamya Karthikeyan from Vizag has reached the Everest Basecamp that stands at 18,200 ft and a team of 20 are attempting to reach the peak now.

This makes Kaamya the youngest girl from AP and one of the youngest in the country to have achieved this feat. She is the daughter of an Indian Navy officer and she trekked to the basecamp to wish the Indian Navy team good luck for their summit attempt. AP Minister for Sports, Kollu Ravindra, flagged off her expedition on May 1 in the city. Guided by her mother, Kaamya achieved this milestone enduring extreme weather conditions and hostile terrains for nine days.

The only reason she hasn’t attempted to reach the summit seems to be that the Nepal government has imposed an age limit of 14 years. In a few years, Kaamya plans to return to the basecamp and attempt to reach the summit. But for now, her next trek is to Stok Kangri in Leh in August. The peak stands at 6000 mts.

Posted on her FB page was – Kaamya, accompanied by her mother Lavanya, successfully trekked to the Everest Base Camp at an altitude of 5464 m on 16 May 2017. With this milestone reached at the tender age of 9 yrs and 9 months, she has become the second youngest girl in the world to achieve the feat. This now boosts her spirits to dream of higher and tougher endeavours…

Thanks for all your encouragement wishes and prayers that have helped the little mountaineer build the confidence to endure the rigours of extreme weather and terrain over the past 9 days to have an audience up close and personal with Sagarmatha…

More details on the magical journey when we reconnect with the wireless world out there in a few days…

Sagarmatha is what the Nepal called the Everest. This is not Kaamya’s first trek as at the age of three she had trekked the Sahyadris and by the age of seven, she had achieved high-altitude Himalayan treks to Har ki Dun, Roopkund, Chandrashila, Kedarkantha all ranging from 11,000 ft to 16,500 ft.