Malli Mastan Babu, a mountaineer who was regarded as the fastest “ 7 summiteer” in the world, that is, fastest to climb summits in all seven continents in 172 days, was found dead on Saturday on the Ceros Mountain between Argentina and Chile.
The late mountaineer has left his mark as the country’s top mountaineer, however, a very few people would know where his inspiration came from.
Taking inspiration from Mastan’s quote: “Challenge is what enthralls me and free spirit is what I exhibit. ‘Never give up, never give in!’ is a phrase that works miracles for me. ‘Courage and Conviction’ has been a way of expression of myself”, Karthik Korupolu, an event organiser at Greater Hyderabad Adventure Club, who studied in Sainik School, Korukonda, alma mater of Malli Mastan Babu, says, that it was Lieutenant M Uday Bhaskar Rao, who passed away in 1985 during an Army Expedition on Mount Everest, inspired Mastan. “Lieutenant Uday Bhaskar was from our school and his statue was erected in the school premises to inspire other students,” informs Karthik.
Though Mastan earned his name as a mountaineer, Karthik informs that besides being the mountain’s child, he was also the first Indian to run 14 half marathons (21.2km) in 14 days in 14 states in India and the first Indian to run eight full marathons (42.2km) plus three half marathons in 13 days spanning 10 Indian states. “A graduate from IIM Calcutta’s 2011 batch, he was also conferred Alumnus Award at the Golden Jubilee Celebrations of the B-School,” Karthik says.
Mastan not only scaled the peaks himself, but also encouraged others around him to get into adventure sports. He was also a motivational speaker. “He would share his experiences and learning from his achievements in various countries such as UAE, US, Kenya, and India with employees of several corporates, at international conferences and academic institutions,” says Karthik.
A regular visitor to Project Krushi, which has its HQ in Hyderabad, Mastan worked towards eradication of child labour and upliftment of children in urban slums. “Last summer Mastan not only took one boy from Krushi for expedition to Himalayas along with him but also sponsored his trekking. He was very generous and encouraging.”
Recalling how Mastan encouraged him to learn skiing, Karthik adds, “When an aspiring mountaineer asked him for tips for scaling peak, Mastan said that if one has feet, they can climb any mountain.”
Safety measures
The death of Mastan, is enough to say that knowing mountaineering is not enough to ensure your safety. Speaking to Greater Hyderabad Adventure Club (GHAC) founder Diyanat Ali said, “I might have conducted more than 500 expeditions so far. But as we are not trained mountaineers, we don’t scale beyond 6,000 mts.”At GHAC, the team organises expedition to Mt Everest base camp, Mt Annapurna and in Leh and Ladakh. “The participants have to undergo training for two months before the expedition. The training contains various exercises like step climbing and climbing hills as the terrain there is uneven. Their altitude sickness is checked by making them walk in a line. A person with altitude sickness finds it difficult to walk in a line,” he informs.