At 12, Mumbai Girl Kaamya Becomes Youngest To Climb Mt Aconcagua

Climbing 6,962 metres is not an easy task, but Mumbai's Kaamya Karthikeyan made it seem like a cakewalk, and she is just 12! A class seven student of Navy Children School (NCS) in Mumbai, Kaamya became the youngest girl in the world to summit Mount Aconcagua, the highest peak in South America,  as per reports.

Kaamya conquered the mountain peak (Mt Aconcagua is the highest peak outside Asia) on February 1 and hoisted the tricolour.

"Years of physical, mental preparations, regular participation in adventure sports combined with a strong character helped Kaamya in overcoming many hurdles and extreme climbing conditions to achieve this rare feat," an official said.

The #epic climb to summit Mt #Aconcagua #SouthAmerica. Sheer #grit and determination.#KaamyaKarthikeyan#adventure@SpokespersonMoD@DDNewslive@DDNewsHindi @airnewsalerts@PIBMumbai pic.twitter.com/Ywqx5s72sk

— PRO Defence Mumbai (@DefPROMumbai) February 9, 2020

Kaamya, who is the daughter of a Naval officer, had also summited Ladakh's 6,260 metres, Mt Mentok Kangri II on August 24, 2019. She had to face extreme weather conditions there.

Key Takeaways:

• Mumbai girl Kaamya Karthikeyan is the youngest in the world to climb South America's highest peak.
• She becomes the youngest girl to summit 6,962 metres tall Mt Aconcagua, the highest peak outside Asia.
• Karthikeyan went on top of the Argentinian mountain peak on February 1, 2020, and hoisted the tricolour.

Other Achievements

Kaamya's other noted achievements are scaling the highest peaks in Africa, Europe and Australia. She had also scaled two peaks with heights of over 6,000 meters above the sea level. She had summited another 'above 6,000 m' peak, Mt Stok Kangri, in August 2017, again becoming the youngest in the world to do so.

Also: Anshu Jamsenpa Climbs Mt Everest Twice In One Season, Creates World Record

Mountaineering came naturally to Kaamya as her father Navy Commander S Karthikeyan would tell her stories of Himalayan-scaling expeditions. Her mother Lavanya too taught her how to hone the skills. She started with basic treks in Lonavala, (Pune) at the age of three, and had completed several high-altitude Himalayan treks with her parents including Roopkund (5,020 metres) in Uttarakhand when she was nine. Talking about her foray into trekking, Kaamya had earlier told TOI, “When I was three, my father was posted in Lonavala. So, there we had a peak called Duke’s Nose, which is just a few hours away. Since it was so close to us, we would go there and start trekking.”

At ten, she reached the Everest Base Camp in Nepal (5,346 metres) and then became the youngest mountaineer to conquer Mt Stok Kangri (6,153 metres) in Ladakh. Following she scaled Mt Kilimanjaro (5,895 metres) the highest peak in Africa, Mt Elbrus (5,642 metres), the highest mountain in Europe and then Australia's tallest mountain Mt Kosciuszko (2,228 metres).

Now the young mountaineer aims to complete the 'Explorers Grand Slam' by 2021 which involves climbing the tallest mountains in all continents besides skiing on the North Pole and the South Pole. She targets to become the youngest to do so in the world. “The Explorer Grand Slam will have her climbing the highest peaks in all seven continents and ski to the north and south poles. The youngest to have completed the challenge is Marin Minamiya, a 20-year-old from Japan,” Lavanya Karthikeyan, her mother and trekking partner, had earlier said.

Here’s to defying all odds, cheers to Kaamya!

Feature Image Credit: DefPROMumbai/Twitter

Read More Stories By Ria Das