Pune woman scales Mount Everest

On top of the world: That’s how Ranjana Patil felt as her 21-year-old daughter Krishna Patil stood there on Thursday.

On top of the world: That’s how Ranjana Patil felt as her 21-year-old daughter Krishna Patil stood there on Thursday.

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Krishna, a resident of Aundh in Pune, became the second woman from Maharashtra to climb the world’s highest peak, Mount Everest.

Her merchant navy father Madhav was out of the country when the phone rang at 7.30 am on Thursday. Stephen Sherpa, leader of Krishna’s mountaineering team, was at the other end. He told Ranjana that her daughter had made it to the top of the 8,848-metre Himalayan peak.

“I could not believe it initially, but I was confident about my daughter’s determination to make it to Everest,” said Ranjana, a teacher. “It was her dream and she had taken lot of effort to achieve it.”

Relatives, friends and well-wishers gathered at the Patil residence as news of Krishna’s triumph spread.

Krishna’s team of ten mountaineers began its Everest expedition on April 12. Six made it to the summit, said Ranjana.

Nepalese Apa Sherpa (49), was also a part of the team, who scaled the peak for the 19th time, breaking his own record. Krishna chose arts in Class 12, but the lure of mountaineering made her give up mainstream education. She climbed almost all the forts in the state, her mother said.

She later enrolled in the Nehru Institute of Mountaineering at Uttarkashi in Uttaranchal. She climbed Mt Satopanth in the Garhwal Himaliya range about 7,075 m above sea level, and Everest was next on her sight.

Though both her parents are working, finance was an issue. Saraswat Bank stepped in to offer a loan of Rs 30 lakh.