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Baljeet Kaur (left) has become the first Indian mountaineer to scale four 8,000m peaks in less than a month after she climbed Mount Lhotse, the fourth-highest mountain in the world, on Sunday.
The 27-year-old mountaineer from Solan in Himachal Pradesh scaled Lhotse (8,516m) with her guide Mingma Sherpa.
They summited Mount Annapurna I (8,091m) on April 28, Mount Kanchenjunga (8,586m) on May 12 and Mount Everest (8,849m) on May 21.
Last September, Baljeet climbed Mount Dhaulagiri (8,167m), the world's seventh-highest mountain.
By scaling Lhotse, she also equalled the record of climbing five 8,000m peaks by an Indian woman that was set by Priyanka Mohit, a mountaineer from Maharashtra.
On May 2, Priyanka, 30, became the first Indian woman to climb five 8000m peaks when she summited Mount Kanchenjunga.
Congratulating Baljeet on her Sunday feat, Indian Mountaineering Federation president Harshwanti Bisht said it would boost the morale of women mountaineers in India.
"Such a feat is highly positive for women mountaineering in India. More and more Indian women are climbing and setting records, encouraging more talent to come forward."
Last year, Baljeet and Gunbala Sharma from Rajasthan became the first Indian women to climb Mount Pumori (7,161m), a mountain on the Nepal-China border in the Mahalangur section of the Himalayas.
"I don't climb to set any records or for name and fame. I just wish to test my limit each time I climb," Baljeet told the Hindustan Times.
She said her family's support has been monumental in her success.
"They can't give me financial support but they back all my mountaineering moves," she said.
"There is no gender discrimination in my house. They all treat me like any other oldest child."
The turning point for Baljeet came in the form of an opportunity to climb a mountain in 2016 during her time with the National Cadet Corps (NCC).
"I did not even know what mountaineering meant. I was just told I had to climb a mountain," she said.
"I trained with 100 girls from the NCC. That's when I felt my passion for mountaineering growing and one expedition was followed by another."
According to her LinkedIn profile, Baljeet, who has a bachelor's degree from the Government PG College in Solan, also indulges in marathons, yoga, fitness and dance. She also organises expeditions and trekking.
Indo-Asian News Service
