HYDERABAD: In a world filled with distractions at every turn for the youth, a 20-year-old mountaineer remains committed to his ambition of climbing the Seven Summits, the tallest mountain peak in each of the seven continents. “Scaling to the top of the Seven Summits and hoisting the Tiranga in all these peaks is my dream,” Bhukhya Yashwanth tells TNIE.
While many might dismiss him as a doe-eyed fanatic following the latest trend, Yashwanth has already climbed to the top of Mount Kilimanjaro (Africa), Mount Elbrus (Europe) and Mount Kosciuszko (Australia), which are three of the highest mountain peaks across the seven continents.
Hailing from a remote tribal village in Mahabubabad, he has now set his eyes on conquering the other four peaks within a year and becoming the youngest Indian mountaineer to achieve the feat of completing the Seven Summits.
On December 1, he climbed to the top of Mount Kosciuszko. “I had planned the climb on November 29. But it was an extremely windy day and the authorities strictly advised me against it,” he explains.
Undeterred by the sudden change in plan, Yashwanth, who had gone alone to Australia without a guide or a Sherpa, decided to try again the next day. “I hitched a ride with a school bus to reach the starting point of the mountain. Then I started the climb around 9 am. It took me about one-and-a-half hours to reach the top and another hour to come down,” he shares.
Despite climbing alone, Yashwanth was the first to reach the top that day, he adds.Fuelled by passion, the 20-year-old’s next immediate plan is to scale to the summit of Mount Everest in April. Acknowledging that it is a risky challenge, Yashwanth says he climbed up to the south base camp of Mount Everest as the first step to understanding how to climb the world’s tallest peak.
“In 2023, I scaled to the base camp, which is situated at 5,364 metres above the mean sea level. It took me six days to climb and two days to come down,” he says.
“To scale to the summit of Mount Everest, I would take around 50-55 days,” Yashwanth explains. “I would need a Sherpa, necessary equipment and other assistance to make it to the fourth summit.”
Call for donations
The full-time BCom student, who has now been a mountaineer for five years, has the training and passion to complete the Seven Summit challenge within a year. However, he faces a financial setback and has been receiving support mostly from civil servants.
The upcoming expedition to Mount Everest would cost Rs 40 lakh (including climbing permits, oxygen concentrators, medical assistance, clothing and equipment, among others). He has raised Rs 20 lakh thus far and is now seeking financial support to help him realise his dream and bring laurels to India. To financially support Yashwanth, reach out to him on +91 70750 13778.