Aparna Kumar, an IPS officer of UP cadre and a mountaineer has completed Mt Manaslu summit and became the first Indian woman to scale the eighth highest peak in the world. Mt Manaslu is situated in Mansiri Himal, a part of Himalayas in Nepal. Aparna started her mission for Manaslu peak at 10am on 25th September.
A 2002 batch IPS officer and mother of two kids, Aparna has scaled six out of the seven highest peaks in each continent. Aparna successfully climbed highest peak in the world Mt. Everest in May last year. After that she scaled Vinson Massif, the highest peak in Antarctica. She is now looking to climb Mount McKinley in Alaska in North America, which will be her last of seven highest peaks.
“The view is outstanding. It is the most beautiful mountain peak of the world. I had feelings of so much gratitude for Manasalu for allowing me, an ordinary nobody to reach the summit. This has been one of the toughest conquests as reaching camp four was quite challenging and exhausting. We started the journey on September 9 and submitted it on September 25.” Aparna Kumar said, after reaching Delhi.
She started her mountaineering career in 2013. She got training for a month at Atal Bihari Vajpayee Institute of Mountaineering and Allied Sports, Manali. In 2014, she scaled Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, the highest peak on the African continent. After that she climbed Carstensz Pyramid peak in the West Papuan province of Indonesia, the highest in the Australia and Oceania region.
“I am thankful to my husband, Sanjay Kumar, who is also a civil servant and has supported me unconditionally through this dream journey. At times, it has been tough going through those gruelling fitness sessions day in and day out at this age but the immense family support and and encouragement kept me motivated,” she said.
IPS Association tweeted news of Aparna’s feat on 26th September.
Proud of IPS Aparna Kumar’s successful summit of Mt Manasalu~8th highest peak~on Sept 25. 1st ever Indian woman to carry tricolour at top pic.twitter.com/Ba7MprFrqA
— IPS Association (@IPS_Association) September 26, 2017
