India`s youngest Everest climber to generate awareness on climate change

Shirish B Pradhan

Kathmandu, May 30 (PTI) "I was very proud to be on the
tallest point of the earth", this was how the teenage girl
from India's western state of Maharashta, Krushnaa Patil
described her feelings after becoming the youngest Indian
woman to scale Mount Everest.

Patil, 19, a BA first year student from Pune, achieved
the feat on May 21 as part of Eco Everest Expedition 2009.

"I felt like dancing on the Everest, but I didn't,"
said Patil, who is well acquainted with Indian contemporary
dance. "I was very proud to be on the tallest point of the
earth."

Asked about her best moment during the Everest
expedition, she said, she felt most excited when she was on
the Hillary step on way to the peak and was stuck on a big
rock with her two feet on two sides of the rock and just next
to her was 20,000 feet steep slope.

Replying to a question, she said she wants to carry
the message of the impact of climate change and environmental
awareness back to India.

"I want to spread the message of the melting glaciers
in the Himalayas and the garbage being dumped in the region,"
Patil told PTI.

The melting glaciers due to climate change have been
threatening the fragile Mountains and has been a matter of
worldwide concern. PTI