Woman scales Mount Everest ‘without oxygen help’

The primary school teacher from Chandernagore achieved her dream after hundreds of people across Bengal joined hands to raise funds through crowd-funding

Piyali Basak.

Snehamoy Chakraborty   |   TT  |   Calcutta   |   23.05.22 : Piyali Basak, a 31-year-old from Hooghly’s Chandernagore, on Sunday morning conquered the Mount Everest, almost without supplementary oxygen.

Piyali, a primary school teacher in Chandernagore, achieved her dream after hundreds of people across Bengal joined hands to raise funds for her summit through crowd-funding for over a month. Piyali has earlier also conquered Mount Dhaulagiri in Nepal without supplementary oxygen, last year.

“We are really proud of the news that Piyali has climbed Mount Everest. It was only possible as a large number of people, including school children, donated money to fulfill her dream. We have heard that she conquered the highest peak of the world without supplementary oxygen. However, we are waiting to hear from Piyali and to see her certificate,” said Kalyan Chakrabortty, secretary of Giridoot, a mountaineering association.

Giridoot had played a significant role with many others to raise funds for Piyali.

Nivesh Karki, the manager of Pioneer Adventure Private Limited in Nepal, which is the agency of Piyali for her Mount Everest climbing, on Sunday night said: “Piyali has successfully summited Mount Everest. She went upto 8,540 meters without supplementary oxygen and later she had to take help of oxygen. She is returning towards the base camp now.”

According to several summit reports from Mount Everest, over 4, 000 people have conquered the highest peak so far but only 200 of them were able to climb it without supplementary oxygen. If Piyali finally gets the certificate of conquering the peak without supplementary oxygen, she would be the first Indian woman on the list.

According to Chakrabortty, he and others from Chandernagore had approached both the central and state governments as well as multiple corporate institutions seeking funds for her trekking to Mount Everest, but failed to get any response.

“After no reply from any government or private institutions, we went to raise funds through crowdfunding. So many people had contributed as per their capacity to raise around Rs 28 lakh. It is a victory for all who stood beside Piyali,” he added.

Family members said Piyali has been enthusiastic about mountain climbing since she was a child. Despite financial incapabilities, she did not stop as her family never let her be "discouraged". She had taken a loan of Rs 26 lakh to climb Dhaulagiri from a bank and had to repay the money with interest.

After doing her graduation in mathematics, she took basic and advanced courses at the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute in Darjeeling.

On October 1, 2021, Piyali conquered the seventh-highest peak in the world, Dhaulagiri, without the use of oxygen cylinders.

“I was really happy when I heard that my daughter had climbed Mount Everest without oxygen. I want her to happily return to home now,” Swapna Basak, mother of Piyali said.

Piyali lives with her mother and retired father in Chandernagore.

“It was her dream to make a record by climbing Mount Everest without supplemental oxygen and she had fulfilled it. We have a financial burden of huge money but we are happy that my daughter could make it,” she added.