JULY 4, 2022
While most kids dream of playing fields, video games, and having a carefree life before their teenage years, a 12-year-old girl from Mumbai had different plans and goals set for her.
Kaamya Karthikeyan, a 12-year-old girl from Mumbai, has become the youngest Indian to scale the summit of Mount Denali, the highest mountain peak in North America at 20,310 feet.
The report was confirmed by a press release sent out by the defense ministry.
Karthikeyan, a Class 10 student of Navy Children School (NCS) in Mumbai and daughter of Navy Commander S Karthikeyan, carried the Tricolour and the Naval Ensign to the summit of Mount Denali on June 27, thus becoming the youngest Indian to achieve the feat, it said.
The remote Alaskan peak is the highest in North America and perhaps the toughest of the seven summit challenges, the release said, adding that, with this climb, she has crossed the fifth milestone on her way to climbing the highest peaks on all seven continents and skiing to both the poles.
The defense release said that with Mount Everest and Mount Vinson, as well as polar ski traverses remaining, Kaamya is well placed to complete the Explorer’s Grandslam, probably the youngest to do so, the defense release said.
A Class VIII student of Mumbai’s Navy Children School and daughter of Commander S Karthikeyan is currently on a mission named “Saras.” She also aims to complete the ‘Explorer’s Grand Slam.’
According to a Navy spokesperson, Karthikeyan’s mission includes climbing the highest peaks in all the seven continents and skiing to the North and South Poles. He added that Karthikeyan, a 14-year-old, hopes to become the youngest person to complete the feat.
In January 2021, she received the Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar, the highest national civilian honor for people under 18, for her exceptional mountaineering accomplishments.
