An IISc professor scaled two of the seven summits of the world in the last two months. She aims to cover all seven by 2026.
Hailing from Purba Medinipur district in West Bengal, Arpita Patra climbed Mt Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, in July and Mt Elbrus in Russia, in August. She started a personal project called ‘Expedition Aparajita’ earlier this year. It is “dedicated to all girls who are denied their life, right, respect, dream, and passion”.
“Since I belonged to a low-income family, education always took top priority. I liked mathematics and earned a BTech in computer science followed by a Master’s and a PhD. It had been a conventional journey until now. But this is the kind of adventurous life I’ve always wanted,” she explains.
Arpita was inspired to do these treks after watching the biographical film ‘True Spirit’ in January. It is based on Jessica Watson, a 16-year-old who was awarded the Order of Australia Medal after attempting a solo circumnavigation.
Africa to Sikkim
Arpita’s experience of trekking started with a 10-day Goechala Trek in Sikkim in April. This was right after she had signed up to climb the highest mountain in Africa.
Since the climbing season in Russia is from May to September, and Arpita didn’t want to wait till 2025, she signed up for the Mt Elbrus trek in August.
“This trek was challenging. I was headed to a country that was already volatile. I had a fever and had hurt my gluteal muscles and tailbone in an accident. However, the tickets were booked and I didn’t have a choice so I kept going,” says
the 40-year-old associate professor with the computer science and automation department at IISc.
Every mountain is different and proper acclimatisation is needed for all big treks, she shares. While she took around seven days to reach the summit of Mt Kilimanjaro, she took a day to reach the Mt Elbrus summit. Arpita was mentored by Guinness World Record-holder Satyarup Siddhanta — the youngest mountaineer in the world to climb the seven summits and the volcanic seven summits.
In the pipeline
Despite how the treks could interfere with her work, Arpita hopes to climb the seven summits by 2026. “I plan to climb Mt Aconcagua in Argentina and Mt Kosciuszko in Australia by December. In 2025, I plan to make it to Mt Denali in North America and Mont Blanc in Europe,” she shares.
She wants to climb Mt Everest in Asia and Mt Vinson in Antarctica by 2026. She also aims to climb the volcanic summits in the near future.