Hyderabad: Malavath Poorna, 18, who conquered Mount Everest in 2014 as a 14-year-old, has become the youngest tribal girl to climb the tallest peaks in six continents. On December 26, she climbed the Mt Vinson Massif in Antarctica.
Only Mt Denali, North America’s highest mountain peak, remains for Poorna to complete Seven Summits Challenge to climb the seven highest mountains on the seven continents, Poorna, who was the subject of a film after her feat of climbing the Everest, is currently pursuing an internship at the University of Minnesota.
After the 29,029-ft Mt Everest on the Asian continent in 2014, Poorna climbed Mt Kilimanjaro (19,341 ft ) in Africa in 2016, Mt Elbrus (18,510 ft )in Europe in 2017, Mt Aconcagua (22,838 ft) in South America in 2019, Mt Carstensz (also called Punchak Jaya, 16,024 ft) in Oceania in 2019 and the 16,050-ft Mt Vinson Massif in Antarctica in recently.
Poorna said her achievement would help break stereotypes about marginalised women.
Speaking over a satellite phone, she thanked Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao and minister for welfare Koppula Eshwar for lending their support.
Dr Praveen Kumar, secretary of the Telangana Social Welfare Residential Educational Institutions Society (TSWREIS), who initially spotted Poorna’s talent, said, “Poorna’s expeditions will remain engraved in golden letters in the annals of the world’s mountaineering history” All of Poorna’s ventures are sponsored by crowd-funding, Transcend Adventures, an NGO run by her coach Shekar Babu, and the state government.
