Premlata Agarwal climbed the Everest at her 50s and grabbed Padma

Premlata Agarwal (born 1963) is the first Indian woman to climb all seven of the world’s highest continental peaks. For her efforts in climbing, she was awarded the Padma Shri by the Government of India in 2013 and the Tenzing Norgay National Adventure Award in 2017.

Personal life of Premlata Agarwal

Her father, Ramawtar Garg, is a businessman and she is from Darjeeling, West Bengal. She is currently employed as an officer by Tata Steel and resides in Jamshedpur’s Jugsalai town in the state’s East Singhbhum district. Vimal Agarwal, a senior journalist, is her husband. Their two daughters, one of whom is married, are the couple’s children.

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Inspiration

Premlata Agarwal accompanied her girls to the JRD Tata Sports Complex in Jamshedpur for tennis training on a typical day. Premlata Agarwal spotted on the notice board that the Tata Steel Adventure Foundation was organizing a Dalma hill Trek (a tiny hill on the outskirts of Jamshedpur). She made the decision to take part in it. She came in third place out of over 500 competitors, much to her surprise.

She was awestruck by the many images of famed mountaineer Bachendri Pal’s Himalayan experiences when she went to the TSAF office to receive her certificate after winning. She decided at that point that she wanted her daughters to participate in adventure sports.

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Career of Premlata Agarwal

She began mountaineering when she was 36 years old, after competing in a hill climbing competition in Jamshedpur. Premlata Agrawal soon discovered her love of climbing. Bachendri Pal, the first Indian woman to summit Mount Everest in 1984, trained and supervised her after that.

At the age of 48, she became the oldest Indian woman to scale the world’s tallest peak, Mount Everest (29,032 ft.), on May 17, 2011, while Sangeeta Sindhi Bahl of Jammu and Kashmir broke Premlata’s record on May 19, 2018, when she became the oldest Indian woman to scale Mount Everest at the age of 53.

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She has previously participated in an Island Peak Expedition (20,600 ft) in Nepal in 2004; the Karakoram Pass (18,300 ft) in 2006; and Mt. Saltoro Kangri (20,150 ft) in 2007. She took part in the First Indian Women’s Thar Desert Expedition in 2007 and again in 2015, a 40-day camel safari from Gujarat’s Bhuj to Punjab’s Wagah Border (India-Pak border). Her accomplishments have landed her a place in the Limca Book of Records.

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Mount Everest climb 2011

Premlata Agarwal was part of a 22-member eco-Everest expedition team that included Indian climbers Sunita Singh, Narendar Singh, Pawan Grewal, Sushma and Vikas Kaushik, as well as Brazilian and Mexican climbers Rodrigo Raineri and David Liano. She acclimatized for nearly a month by going around Everest Base Camps and doing a climbing exercise at the 20,300-foot-high Island Peak in the Himalayas.

Premlata Agarwal began the major climb on May 6th, climbing from 18,000 feet at Everest base camp to 22,000 feet at Camp 2. She utilized supplemental oxygen after that and made it to Camp 3 at 23,000 feet and Camp 4 at 26,000 feet. To reach the summit, a global trekking team led by Dawa Steven Sherpa embarked on an overnight journey.

They started at 11 p.m. from Nepal’s South Col (Camp 4 at 26,000 ft) route and reached the summit at 9.35 a.m. on May 20, 2011, at a height of 29,032 ft. She had lost one of her gloves an hour before reaching the summit, and was about to turn back because it was impossible to climb such a height without one, when she noticed a pair of gloves lying on the snow, left by someone.