“Somewhere between the bottom of the climb and the summit is the answer to the summit is the answer to the mystery why we climb.” – Greg Child, mountaineer.
Shrouded in mists and mysteries, the 6,960-meter-high majestic summit of Mount Aconcagua beckons one and all. Only a few dare to answer its siren call. Fewer still are capable of scaling its seemingly infinite peaks. But Kaamya Karthikeyan is no stranger to its heights. On February 1, 2019, she became the youngest in the world to scale the highest peak Argentina, South America.
At 12, the young daredevil has reached the top of Europe – Mount Elbrus (5,642 metres) – and even walked on the roof of Africa – Mount Kilimanjaro (5,895 metres). Here’s an account of how she got started in mountaineering and some of the hair-raising moments from her latest expedition.
The making of a champion
Mountaineering comes naturally to Kaamya. Sitting snugly in her baby sling, she accompanied her parents, Indian Navy Commander S. Karthikeyan and Lavanaya, who is an early childhood teacher, on numerous treks even before she started to walk. By the time she turned three, she was used to basic treks to the Sahyadris in Lonavala; and at seven, she mastered high-altitude Himalayan treks to Chandrashila and Roopkund. Later, she reached the Everest Base Camp in Nepal (5,346 metres) and in 2017, became the youngest mountaineer to conquer Mt. Stok Kangri (6,153 metres) in Ladakh.
Not old enough to enrol in training schools, Kaamya trains with her father, from whom she caught the mountaineering bug. “My father led expeditions for the Navy and used to go away for really long periods. So I wanted to know what there was in the mountains that kept calling him again and again,”Kaamya, who is studying in Class 7 at Navy Children School in Mumbai, tells The Hindu In School.
To build her endurance and stamina, she climbs up the stairs of her 15-storey high-rise building saddled with an eight kilogramme backpack. She does this not once or twice, but at least 16 times. Alternatively, the workouts are mixed with either a 10-km run or 20-km cycling. Weekends are relatively easier, with the family going out for treks.
But the grit and confidence are her own doing. “I admire all mountaineers. Going to the mountains is hard and after you have done it once and then to do it again and again takes a lot of courage. My role model has always been my dad,”she says.
On top of the world
Kaamya’s momentous expedition to Mount Aconcagua got off to a rocky start. She required a special permission from a judge in Mendonza to climb the mountain because of her young age. Despite carrying medical certificates from India, Kaamya was asked to take some more medical examinations and psychological assessments in Argentina. The delay set her back by about 10 days; finally she embarked on her adventure on January 17, 2019.
The sheer height along with extremely cold temperatures makes Aconcagua a challenging ascent even for the most accomplished mountaineers. For Kaamya, who has climbed the mountains of Ladakh, it was familiar territory, but the harsh winds threw her off.
Dressed in a padded jacket, she pushed past the howling winds. She climbed about 400 to 500 metres daily. “No other mountain in the ranges around Aconcagua is taller than 500 metres, so that makes it very windy. There is a traverse of two hours on the way to the summit when we are thrashed by winds,” she adds. “This made the expedition more difficult and challenging from my previous experiences.”
To make matters worse, when she reached close to the summit she was forced to turn back because of the inclement weather. “It was a windy day and my fingers were cold. The guides thought I was showing symptoms of acute mountain sickness. So they decided to turn me around and come back down. That was emotionally challenging and that drained me out a lot,” she recounts.
Not one to give up, she repeated the long and arduous, 19-hour-long steep climb again. “The company we climbed with was very helpful. They gave us a personal guide to climb the mountain second time,” she adds.
As she made her way to the top, everything else became a blur. She reached the highest point on the mountain and unfurled the Indian Tricolour. It took her about 18 days to complete the expedition.
“When you reach the top, you don’t feel like you have conquered something great. Instead, when you look at how big and majestic the mountains are it only makes you more humble. That’s what I have learnt from mountaineering,” says the gritty traveller.
Mountaineering has also helped her overcome her deep-rooted fear of the dark. “After all my expeditions, I have learnt that if there is dark then light will follow. And it has helped me overcome my fear. Apart from that there is no other fear,” she adds.
Kaamya aspires to become a forest officer. For now, she has set forest officer. For now, she has set her eyes on completing the Explorer’s Grand Slam, which involves climbing the highest mountains in all the seven continents – she has only three more to go – and skiing to the north and south pole. Stay tuned for her next adventure.
Picture Credit : Google