Adventurous teenager Kaamya Karthikeyan blazes her way across peaks of seven continents

Young people in India are getting increasingly adventurous and courageous. They are eager to achieve success. We can see their confidence in many fields be it music, sports or public speaking. Similarly, parents too have become bolder and allow their children to take part in unusual exploits.

A few months ago, 17-year-old Mumbai lass Kaamya Karthikeyan accomplished a feat that no other youngster had done anywhere in the world. She became the youngest female mountain climber to complete the Seven Summits challenge. Earlier, she had also bagged another honour – that of climbing Mount Everest from the Nepal side.

What is the Seven Summits challenge?

Like the name suggests, it refers to the achievement of climbing the highest mountains on each of the seven continents. The definition of the word continent varies but as defined by the sport of mountaineering as well as the Encyclopedia Britannica, the seven continents consist of the land masses of Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Antarctica, Europe, and Australia.

Many lost their lives

The feat of climbing all the highest mountains in each of these continents was first accomplished by a climber named Richard Bass in 1985. Since then many expert mountaineers have made it a goal to be able to climb all the seven tallest peaks in their lifetime. Some succeeded but some failed. Several climbers lost their lives in the risky venture. But brave young Kaamya was the youngest female climber to do it late last year.

Example of Mastan Babu

India’s Malli Mastan Babu, hailing from Nellore in Andhra Pradesh, had the credit of getting a Guinness world record by setting foot on the Seven Summits in 172 days in 2006. However, he was older than Kaamya. Tragically, Mastan Babu died on 24 March, 2015 in the Andes mountains after getting caught in bad weather on the Tres Cruces Sur Summit on the border of Argentina and Chile.

Kaamya completed her goal when she summitted Mount Vinson in Antarctica last December. It is the highest peak in Antarctica, at 4,892 metres. It lies in the northern part of Vinson Massif’s summit plateau in the formidable Sentinel Range.

Kaamya had earlier summited Mount Everest on 20 May 2024, becoming the youngest Indian and the second youngest female in the world to climb the peak from the Nepal side. Prior to that she summited Mount Denali in Alaska, the tallest peak in North America. She became the youngest non-American to do so. In the course of completing the Seven Summits Challenge, Kaamya scaled Mt. Kilimanjaro (Africa), Mt. Elbrus (Europe), Mt. Kosciuszko (Australia), Mt. Aconcagua (South America), Mt. Denali (North America), Mt. Everest (Asia) and Mt Vincon (Antarctica).

The most difficult ones

Out of all these peaks, she found Everest and Denali the most difficult to climb. She explained: “Climbing Denali was difficult because there were no porters. We had to carry our luggage, which was about 50 kilos, on sleds all the way up. The Everest climb was difficult because the high altitude made it very challenging.”

Kaamya’s father, Commodore S. Karthikeyan is an officer in the Indian Navy and also a very experienced mountain climber who helped and guided his daughter to achieve great heights. When Kaamya was a child she used to see her father often go off on his climbing expeditions.

An innocent question

One day little Kaamya asked her mother: “What does Daddy find so attractive in the mountains that he frequently goes off leaving us here?” Her mother replied that they must find out. So the little girl and her mother went on a trek to the mountains and she fell in love with the icy peaks. She was only three years old at the time.

When she was seven, she accompanied her parents on a trek to the Chandrashila Peak in the Himalayas which is at an altitude of 3690 metres. The last five kilometres of this trek is a gruelling climb and has a steep gradient that can tax the fittest of men. But little Kaamya did it without stopping and was the first to finish. The girl showed determination beyond her years.

When she was about 12, the pandemic came along. But it did not stop her activity. She stayed in shape by going up the stairs of a 20-storey building 15 times daily with a heavy backpack on her back. The father-daughter duo’s next goal is to set off on an expedition which will see them set foot on the North Pole as well as the South Pole.

Get the latest updates in , , , , and on & by subscribing to our channels. You can also download our app for and .