On Sunday, Baljeet Kaur, a 27-year-old woman set a record and became the only Indian mountaineer to scale four 8000m peaks in less than a month. Her accomplishment spanned over 25 days, with her first two record-setting climbs at Mt. Annapurna on the 28th of April, and Mt. Kanchenjunga on May 12. After Kaur scaled the two 8000m mountain peaks in Nepal, she set out to summit Mt. Everest and Mt. Lhotse, with great success.
“It’s a huge honour for me to have successfully climbed four 8000-m mountains, including Mt Everest, in one season. I am thankful to God that I could achieve the feat,” Kaur said.
After scaling Mt. Everest, the highest mountain in the world on Saturday, Kaur then proceeded to climb Mt. Lhotse the next day, which is the fourth highest. The early morning climb esteemed her with the record.
In the past year, Kaur also summitted Mt. Pumori (7161m) being one of the first Indian women to do so, and later was the only successful Indian female mountaineer to summit Mt. Dhaulagiri (8167m).
The climbs in the past month have placed her in tie with Priyanka Mohite, a Pune mountaineer who has the record of climbing five 8000m mountains in total.
Her mother, Shanti Devi, was befittingly proud.
“Our daughter’s feat is the highest honour for us,” she said.
Kaur’s passion for climbing started when she was young.
“She was always fascinated by mountains. As a child, she would climb the small hills near our village,” Devi said.
The Indian mountaineer started her journey with an expedition to the 6001m Mt Deo Tibba seven years ago.
“It all started from a NCC [National Cadet Corps] camp for me at the GMSSS, Mamligh, and if I can achieve this feat, any girl in the world could aspire to achieve such a feat,” Kaur said.
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