Arjun Bajpayee, a 16-year-old Delhi school boy, on Saturday had a brief tryst with destiny equalling the world record of being the youngest to step atop the world’s highest peak 8,848 metre Mt. Everest, only to have his feat overturned hours later by a 13-year-old American.
Bajpayee became the youngest Indian to climb Everest early on Saturday morning via the traditional South Col route in Nepal. He equalled the record of a Nepalese Sherpa Temba Tsheri who also climbed the peak when he was sixteen.
But a few hours later, a 13-year-old Californian boy Jordan Romero broke his record by climbing the peak from the tough North Eastern ridge route in Tibet. The Californian is on a quest to climb all the highest peaks in the seven continents. The two youngsters could have had a tryst atop the world’s highest summit, but apparently missed each other by a whisker, as Bajpayee after a short stay atop made his way back for a descent. Bajpayee climbed the peak at 6.33 am on Saturday morning in the company of Apa Sherpa, 50, who became the first man to climb the peak for the record 20th time. The world record for the highest number of climbs on Everest also earlier stood in his name.
Also on Saturday, 27-year-old Mamta Sodha, from a poor dalit family, fulfilled her dream of scaling Mt Everest on Saturday. Mamta hails from Haryana’s Kaithal district.