Who Is Santosh Yadav? Woman Who Climbed Mount Everest Not Once, But Twice

Mountaineer Santosh Yadav made history as the first woman to climb Mount Everest, not once, but twice. The mountaineer also saved the life of a fellow climber during her first Mount Everest mission by sharing her oxygen with him.

Hailing from the Joniyawas village of Rewari district in Haryana, Santosh Yadav took up climbing Earth’s highest mountain in 1992. The then 20-year-old Yadav scaled Mount Everest for the first time, making her the youngest woman to achieve the feet at the time. The record was later broken in 2013 by 13-year-old Malavath Purna.

Yadav also became the first woman to successfully climb the mountain from Kangshung Face.

Who Is Santosh Yadav?

• 54-year-old Santosh Yadav was born on October 10, 1967, and is the first woman to climb Mount Everest twice. She is also known for being the first woman to successfully climb the mountain from the Kangshung Face.
• Yadav attended Maharani College in Jaipur and stayed in a hostel, where she was able to see mountaineers climbing Aravalli Range.
• It inspired her to join Uttarkashi’s Nehru Institute of Mountaineering while she continued her studies for the Indian Administrative Service (IAS).
• During her first expedition in 1992, she tried to save the lives of two fellow mountaineers who had collapsed due to a lack of oxygen. Yadav was unable to save one mountaineer but managed to save the life of Mohan Singh by sharing her oxygen with him.
• A year later, she climbed Mount Everest again with an Indo-Nepalese team.
• For her contributions to mountaineering in India, she was awarded the Tenzing Norgay National Adventure Award in 1994, India’s highest adventure sports honour.
• In 2000, she was awarded the Padma Shri for her achievements.
• The mountaineer and environmentalist collected 500 kgs of dumped wastes from the Himalayas.
• Santosh Yadav is the first female chief guest to be invited to a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Singh (RSS) at its annual Dussehra function held in Nagpur.
• Yadav’s invitation marks the first time in its 97 years of existence a woman chief guest was invited to the occasion.

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