From the Hills to the Everest: The journey of Bachendri Pal
At 1:07 pm Bachendri Pal made it to the top of Mount Everest and spent 43 minutes on the top breathing in her victory as the first woman to achieve the great climb
Every mountaineer's aspiration in life is to reach the top of the world Mount Everest, On May 23, 1984, Pahadi girl from Uttarakhand stood still at the top of the world. Bachendri Pal the first Indian woman to summit Mount Everest. Bachendri was born on May 24,1954 in a small town in Nakuri village, Tehri Garhwal, Uttarakhand. Climbing the Everest is not an daunting task, it requires full determination and fearlessness from the mountaineer, Bachendri also had a lot of difficulty as she kept falling ill at the training camp, regardless she choose to continue the climb, the 43 precious minutes spent on the top of the Everest made her the first Indian Women in history to take up the journey.
Bachendri pal was born to Kishan pal and Hansa Devi, her father earning a living from trading goods with Tibet, the family faced a lot of struggles where they lost their house to a devastating flood in 1943, this led to facing a lot of financial, in spite of all the difficulties Bachendri never stopped pursuing her education, she accomplished her MA in Sanskrit, but her heart truly belonged to the mountains. Her love towards mountains began when she was 12, when both she and her friends climbed a 4,000 metre peak, skipping Sunday school.
As an instructor at the National Adventure Foundation, she was selected for a women's mountaineering scholarship and also helped launch the Bhagirathi Seven-sister Adventure club to promote adventure sports among girls. Bachendri pal missed the Everest ’84 selection due to her falling extremely ill and missed the training. On May 16, 1984, a massive snow slide took place at the Lhotse Glacier in the beginning of the expedition. Many mountaineers were injured and hurt. “I was jolted awake. Something hit me hard. It was an avalanche,” she recalled in an interview later. When asked if she was scared, she admitted she was. But when asked if she wanted to quit, her answer was firm: “No.” reported in India today.
This inconvenience didn’t bother Bachendri, On May 23, 1984, just a day before her 30th birthday she climbed the last stretch with her guide Ang Dorjee, a few remaining teammates, freezing winds and sheets of ice. At 1:07 pm Bachendri Pal made it to the top of Mount Everest and spent 43 minutes on the top breathing in her victory as the first woman to achieve the great climb.
Bachendri Pal went on to inspire many girls. In 1993 she led the first all-women Indo-Nepalese Everest expedition, she also joined the first Women’s rafting voyage the following year, covering 2,155km from Haridwar to Calcutta in 39 days. In 1997 she was one of the seven women to march from Arunachal to Siachen, known to be the first Indian Women Trans-Himalayan expedition. Her journey as a curious hill village girl to a personal achievement to the summit of Everest is a reminder for every individual that dreams do come true.
The article is authored by Sherin MJ, an intern from Loyala Academy, Hyderabad
