Priyanka Mohite, the first Indian woman to scale Mt Annapurna: “There should be more films depicting the lives of mountaineers”

28-year-old mountaineer, Priyanka Mohite from Satara, Maharashtra, who goes by the Instagram bio, “A girl whose dancing legs are climbing now”, talks about her remarkable achievement and challenges during the preparation

The 28-year-old mountaineer, Priyanka Mohite from Satara, Maharashtra, is feeling on top of the world as she recently became the first Indian woman to scale Mt Annapurna, the 10th highest mountain peak in the world.

“I was confident, excited and a bit scared as it is one of the deadliest mountains because of its unpredictable climate which makes it even more difficult for a climber,” says Mohite

Mohite, a trained Bharatanatyam dancer who goes by the Instagram bio, “A girl whose dancing legs are climbing now” informed in a post, “I take the privilege informing all of you that “I have successfully made it to the peak of Mt. Annapurna, (8091 mtrs) 10th highest mountain in the world on 16th April 2021 at 1.30pm. And also I am the first Indian woman to scale Mt Annapurna.” Her journey that kick-started on March 21 was followed by a 5-day quarantine period. Before she started the climb, she also updated her followers as she captioned her post, “Going towards my dream. Mt Annapurna I, whose elevation stands at 8091m making it fall under 14× 8000m plus peaks of the world.”

“I was confident, excited and a bit scared as it is one of the deadliest mountains because of its unpredictable climate which makes it even more difficult for a climber. I am also happy because there were no causalities this year,” says Mohite on this remarkable achievement. She also adds, “After every climb, I get at least 1,000 new followers on social media and I hope I am able to have good influence on them.”

In the past, Mohite has also achieved success in climbing Mt Makalu, the fifth-highest peak in the world, in 2019, and became the first Indian woman. She has previously scaled Mt Lhotse, the fourth highest mountain in the world, in 2018 and Mount Everest in 2013.

The mountaineer didn’t let the lockdown play a spoilsport in her practice and training last year as she believes that endurance and preparation play a key role for a climb. “From August onwards, gym and fitness centres reopened, so I also restarted my work out regime. However, the outdoor training and activities were reduced due to the Covid-19 situation and I need to be cautious as getting infected will have an impact in the long run as a mountaineer, so I resorted to strength training, cross fit, and high-intensity interval training,” she says.

Mohite, who works at a pharmaceutical company in Bengaluru, wanted to climb Kangchenjunga this year but couldn’t due to unavailability of the team credits her parents for the continuous encouragement through the years. “My parents have always supported my decisions and pushed me to strive better,” she says.

In her leisure time, Mohite likes to go for nature treks, do rock-climbing and watch films that are related to mountaineering. However, she also feels there’s a dearth of movies in Indian cinema that portray the lives of mountain climbers. “There should be more films depicting the lives of mountaineers...Climbing is really difficult but I understand shooting outdoors would be hard too, but there should be one like the film, Everest (2015),” she concludes.