This Article is From May 21, 2009

Pune girl, 19, scales Mount Everest

Pune: Nineteen-year-old Krishna Patil has conquered the Mount Everest, becoming the first Maharashtrian woman mountaineer to achieve the feat.

"Krishna, who was part of the ten-member 'Asian Trekking' team commissioned in Nepal, scaled the dream peak at 0700 hrs today," an elated Ranjana Patil, Krishna's mother, said, quoting a satellite communication received from her daughter, who has now returned to the base camp.

Krishna started the treacherous climb on April 12 and unfurled the Indian tri-colour on the 8,848-metre-high Everest this morning, she said.

Always fond of adventurous sports, the teenager underwent a rigorous training at Nehru Institute of Mountaineering in Uttarkashi.

She was the youngest member of the squad comprising six Americans, two Germans and a Dutch woman, all in their forties.

Hrishikesh Yadav, the first Maharashtrian to scale the Everest in 1998, congratulated Krishna for her outstanding achievement at such a young age.
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