Becomes 1st mother to scale Everest twice in same season
ITANAGAR: Arunachalee mountaineer Anshu Jamsenpa will find her name etched in golden letters in mountaineering history as the 32-year-old talent came up yesterday with a world record feat of scaling the Mt Everest twice in the same season when she climbed atop the world for a record second time in 10 days flat.
Anshu unfurled the national flag and Arunachal logo at the summit at an altitude of 29035 ft on the morning of May 21 at 5.05 AM local time and offered a short prayer of thanks-giving to Lord Buddha, according to sources at the Arunachal Mountaineering & Adventure Sports Association (AMASA).
Anshu, the mother of two children, has become the first married woman in the world to make it to the summit of Mt Everest twice in one climbing season. Her second successful summit was preceded by the first Everest success on 12 May last at 7 am. There is a Nepali unmarried girl who also climbed Mt Everest twice in a single season this year.
Anshu Jamsenpa has also become the first Indian to climb Everest twice in one season. To make this record, she took her climbing endurance to the highest limit. She started her second ascent from Base Camp (17500 ft) on 18th May and climbed upto Camp 2 (21450 ft.) skipping a night halt at Camp 1. Next day she climbed upto Camp 3 (23700 ft.). On May 20, she reached Camp 1V (26000 ft) also known as South Col Without resting for the night, she started her final summit push around 11 pm as the weather was predictably clear and favourable. Normally, on the Everest expeditions, climbers spend at least one night at each camp and then attempt the summit.
Anshu was the leader of International Everest Expedition team consisting of 10 members from six countries. This was a rare honor for a young female mountaineer from the remote state of Arunachal Pradesh. A record five climbing members from her team has also made it to the summit, including two Indians - Ganesh Chandra Jena and herself, a Canadian - Marie Christine Dube, a Swedish - Alf Robin Trygg and Churim Sherpa from Nepal. In spite of too much risk involved in the Everest expedition, Anshu has still taken up the challenge of leading her 2nd climbing group to the summit of Mt Everest.
The Deputy Chief of Mission, Embassy of India in Kathmandu, Ministry of Tourism & Civil Aviation, Govt of Nepal, Arun Trek & Expeditions Kathmandu, State Sports & Youth Affairs Department and AMASA has been involved with coordinating in this record breaking attempt since the time Anshu and Tine Mena, the first woman Everester from North East, were flagged off by State Governor Gen J J Singh on 1st April 2011 from the State capital.
In the past two weeks, three mountaineers died while on the Everest expedition. An American mountaineer Rich Hitch died near Camp 3. He had earlier climbed all the six highest peaks in six continents and this was his final attempt to create world record by climbing Mt Everest. Second was Sailendra Kumar Upadhyaya, former Foreign Minister of Nepal, who died while trying to create a history by becoming senior most citizen on the top of Everest. Besides, a seasoned Japanese climber - Takashi Ozaki died while attempting to scale Everest just a few hundred feet from the summit.
While conveying its deep condolences over the tragic deaths, AMASA said, our thoughts and prayers are with the bereaved family members.
~Echo of Arunachal
