12-year-old from Vizag summits Mt. Aconcagua, the highest peak in South America

Vizag-based young mountaineer Kaamya Karthikeyan has added yet another feather to her cap by conquering Mt. Aconcagua, the highest peak in South America. The youngster achieved the rare feat on Feb 1, 2020.

“Hurray!! Kaamya becomes the youngest girl in the world to summit Mt. Aconcagua, the highest peak in South America and outside of Asia!! Kaamya summited Mt. Aconcagua, the highest peak in South America at 1600 hrs on 01 Feb 2020. While years of physical and mental preparation helped her overcome extreme climbing conditions, the build-up of a strong character through adventure sports was instrumental in Kaamya, at such tender age, being able to face and win over many bureaucratic, judicial and other organisational hurdles. We thank all our well-wishers who held our hands and prayed for us all through,” a post on her Facebook page read.

The 12-year-old’s training to scale Mt. Aconcagua was flagged off by Vice Admiral Ajit Kumar, Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Western Naval Command.

Kaamya was nine years old when she conquered Mt.Everest base camp. She was the second youngest girl in the world to do so. She is a nature lover who conquered challenging peaks like the 20,000 ft high peak Stok Kangri in Leh Ladakh among others.

Daughter of a Naval officer, the spirited youngster hopes to convert her love for nature into a profession and become a forest officer. Starting early, she accompanied her parents on weekend treks to Duke’s Nose in Lonavala where they were posted. At 3 and 4 years of age, she took on the Sahyadris and the challenging circuit of Rajgad in Pune later.

In Vizag, there was no stopping Kaamya. She has trekked Dolphin Hills countless times, going from the base to the Lighthouse on top and taking the trekking route downhill. This is no mean feat and it prepared her for the tough, high altitude Himalayan treks she would undertake.  In May 2015, she scaled her first summit at Chandrashila at 12000ft before moving on to the dangerous Har ki Dun(11500ft), Kedarnath(12850) and Roopkund(16500), done in a continuum in October 2016.