Mumbai: Mumbai-based Kaamya Karthikeyan, the mountaineering prodigy, along with her father, Commander S Karthikeyan, an Indian Navy officer, has scaled Mount Everest, the highest peak in the world.
Sixteen-year-old Kaamya has become the youngest Indian and the second-youngest girl, to have summited Mt Everest from the Nepal side.
The father-daughter duo achieved the feat on May 20.
"Kaamya has exhibited immense courage and fortitude in summiting the highest peaks in six of the seven continents,” the Indian Navy said in a congratulatory note.
“The Indian Navy wishes Kaamya the very best in her aspiration to summit the highest peaks of all seven continents, becoming the youngest girl to do so,” the Mumbai-headquartered Western Naval Command said.
Kaamya is a Class XII student of Navy Children School, Mumbai.
Kaamya is attempting the Explorer's Grand Slam.
An accomplished mountaineer, she has already summitted the highest peaks in five continents.
In a Facebook post, Kaamya said: “A safe and successful summit on Mt. Everest!!! It still hasn't sunk in that my dad and I have finally summitted the highest peak in the world! I had an audience with Sagarmatha at 1250 hrs on 20 May 24 and am extremely grateful to all of our well wishers, sponsors, supporters, sherpas and everyone else who has helped me achieve this feat! We're now back at Base Camp and heading down back towards Lukla and further to Kathmandu... I'll be posting more about the summit push in the coming days!”.
“Extremely proud and happy to share that Kaamya and Karthik have successfully summited Mt. Everest on 20 May 24. With this accomplishment, Kaamya has become the second youngest girl and the youngest Indian to scale the mighty Sagarmatha. This wouldn't have been possible without years of dedication, hard work, perseverance and sacrifices. We're extremely grateful to all our well wishers, sponsors, sherpas and others who have helped us achieve this feat,” Kaamya’s mother Lavanya Karthikeyan said.
"After this feat, she has become the second youngest girl in the world and the youngest Indian Mountaineer to summit the world's highest peak from the Nepal side. Kaamya has now completed six milestones in her mission to summit the highest peak of all seven continents and aims to summit Mt. Vinson Massif in Antarctica this December to become the youngest girl to accomplish the Seven Summits challenge," an Indian Navy spokesperson said in Mumbai.
The Explorer's Grand Slam is an adventurer goal to reach the North Pole and South Pole, as well as climb the Seven Summits - Everest, Aconcagua, Denali, Kilimanjaro, Elbrus, Vinson and Pancak Jaya/Kościuszko.