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In 1965, Colonel Avatar Singh Cheema became the first Indian man and the 16th person in the world to climb Mount Everest. In 1984, Bachendri Pal conquered the world’s highest peak, becoming the first Indian woman to do so. It took nearly 20 years for a woman to reach the world’s tallest peak after a man to do so. The success may have come late but it was a statement against the conventional limitations placed on women’s ambitions and capabilities. Pal’s success served as a powerful testament to the potential women possess to achieve the extraordinary, regardless of the daunting obstacles they may face. In an exclusive chat with ABP Live, she narrated how her dream to become “independent” was what drove her to take the unconventional path.
The Great Dreamer
Bachendri Pal never thought about being the first woman to climb Mount Everest. Born on May 24, 1954, in the Nakuri village of Uttarkashi, Bachendri Pal was the first girl from her village to graduate with a Master’s degree. She completed her Master’s in Sanskrit from the DAV PG College of Dehradun and B.Ed from Srinagar. At the age of 12, during a school picnic, she had her first mountaineering experience, climbing a 13,123-foot-high peak. Taking inspiration from her brother, who was in the BSF, she underwent mountaineering training at the Nehru Institute of Mountaineering.
Speaking to ABP Live, she said: “The situation was quite pathetic. Women were working in the fields from early morning till late at night. I consider myself a great dreamer, and I dreamed of being independent. To stand on your own feet in life, independence is crucial, and education is essential for that. When I completed my higher education, I achieved my dream.”
Conquering The Everest Of Personal Challenges
However, this was not as easy as it looks. It took her years to convince her family.
“No one in my village was even aware of Mt. Everest. For them, mountaineering was not even a career. It was difficult to make them understand what I wanted. I had to work very hard to convince them. I had to show them my inner can-do spirit and prove myself by doing every household chore,” Bachendri Pal recalled.
After completing the Basic Mountaineering course in 1981, she received a letter for the pre-Everest Expedition, and that’s when she started dreaming of conquering the world’s highest peak. Pal recalled the night of an avalanche (May 16, 1984). “I heard a ‘blast’ at 12:30 AM. Lhotse glacier broke, and tents were destroyed. It took me a while to understand what had happened.”
After the avalanche, half of her team members were injured and decided to descend, but Pal found herself fit to go further. “I am a very positive person. I believe that whatever bad was supposed to happen has happened and passed; now good things will happen.” On May 23, 1984, she conquered the world. Remembering the moment when she reached the peak, she said: “Reaching the summit of Mount Everest was an incredibly profound moment for me, both personally and professionally.”
The journey was filled with numerous challenges, including the massive avalanche, she said. “The Everest of personal life was higher than Mt. Everest itself. People have bullied me and made me cry. People don’t understand how difficult it is for girls like us“.
Pal was 28 when she reached the top of the world — Sagarmatha (the Nepali name for Mt. Everest). This feat catapulted her to national and international acclaim, including India’s third-highest civilian award, the Padma Bhushan, by the Government of India in 2019.
Empowering Women Through Adventure
Pal’s journey extends far beyond her historic Everest expedition. She has since dedicated her life to inspiring and empowering others through adventure, especially women. She mentioned: “Women should prioritise themselves, and once they step out of their minds, there is nothing they cannot lead.”
She works as the chief of adventure programme at Tata Steel and the director of the Tata Steel Adventure Foundation. She led an “Indo-Nepalese Women’s Mount Everest Expedition – 1993” team composed only of women, which set benchmarks for Indian mountaineering when 18 people reached the Everest summit. She also led an all-women team of rafters in “The Great Indian Women’s Rafting Voyage – 1994”, which had 18 women in 3 rafts. It was a pioneering effort by women in completing the journey on the river Ganges from Haridwar to Kolkata, covering 2,155 km in 39 days, and “First Indian Women Trans-Himalayan Expedition – 1997”, which was an effort by eight women, who completed the trekking journey from the eastern part of the Himalayas from Arunachal Pradesh to the western part of the Himalayas at Siachen Glacier, reaching Indira Col — the northernmost tip of India, covering more than 4,500 km in 225 days by crossing more than 40 high mountain passes.
“Leading all-women expeditions and rafting voyages allowed me to inspire and empower other women to pursue their dreams fearlessly. It’s essential to show that women are just as capable as men in the world of adventure sports,” Pal said.
Continuing The Journey
Bachendri Pal is now planning to lead a senior citizen expedition as she believes gender and age are both human-made barriers and physical fitness is important at every age. “One should carry high values in their bank balance and should aim like Mahabharata’s Arjuna,” she said.
Pal believes mountaineering is a life school as it teaches you everything that a person requires throughout life to live. She is working in the direction of women’s empowerment through adventure Sports. She said: “I hope that my journey serves as a source of inspiration for aspiring mountaineers and adventurers, especially women as if I can achieve something then definitely, they can also.” Her autobiography, ‘Everest – My Journey to the Top,’ serves as an inspiration for aspiring adventurers around the world.
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