Young guns make history on Mt Kilimanjaro

Young guns make history on Mt Kilimanjaro
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Highlights

Taking the scenic but very risky summit route from Machame Gate in Tanzania, the young brigade from Telangana on the expedition of scaling the Africas’s highest peak 19,341-feet Mt Kilimanjaro has made their compatriots feel proud on the eve of 70th Independence Day.

Hyderabad: Taking the scenic but very risky summit route from Machame Gate in Tanzania, the young brigade from Telangana on the expedition of scaling the Africas’s highest peak 19,341-feet Mt Kilimanjaro has made their compatriots feel proud on the eve of 70th Independence Day.

Carrying a 20-feet-long Indian tricolor, said to be a record to carry to such an elevation, the 20-member team led by Malavath Poorna, the youngest female ever to scale the Mt Everest, reached the Uhuru Peak at around 11.30 am (IST) on Sunday.

The team includes 10 girls of Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya (KGBV) in Medak district and six from the TSWREIS schools, apart from noted mountaineers - Adilabad Additional Superintendent of Police GR Radhika, who recently climbed Mt Everest, Padma Shri Awardee Gurmayum Anita Devi of Imphal, Bimla Negi Deoskar of Nagpur and guide Raji Tammineni of Hyderabad.

However, the team is scheduled to complete the trek on August 15, the young guns showed their mettle giving even the seasoned mountaineers, who accompanied them, a run for their money in reaching the summit a day ahead. The team set off for the expedition from Machame Gate on August 10. Gamani Narsamma of KGBV Kulcharam, aged around 12, is the youngest in the team.

Upon reaching the summit, the team held aloft the Indian tricolor proudly and sung the national anthem, besides displaying the posters of BR Ambedkar, chief architect of Indian Constitution, and Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao.

The team also displayed the TS emblem and logos of Sarva Siksha Abbhiyan KGBV Schools, TSWREIS and Telangana Tribal Welfare Residential Schools. Later, the team leader Malavath Poorna released the poster of her biopic ‘Poorna’ movie made by Rahul Bose.

Speaking to The Hans India from the base camp in Tanzania on Sunday, Shekhar Babu Bachinepally, the head of Transcend Adventures and Rock Climbing School in Bhongir, said: “Despite taking the tough Machame route (known as Whisky Route), the team, but for two all of them are women, wrapped up the trek well ahead of its schedule. This is the first time that a team from India that has 18 women trekked Mt. Kilimanjaro.”

Medak district collector Ronald Ross said: “The feat achieved by these underprivileged students could well be a huge boost for those hailing from rural areas in overcoming the inferiority complex.” The team, currently descending to Mweka Camp, will reach Moshi town on Monday before returning to Hyderabad on August 18. TSWREIS secretary RS Praveen Kumar said, “All credit goes to Medak Collector for taking such a bold decision to send the children.”

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