VISAKHAPATNAM: It is a giant step for 10-year-old Vizag mountaineer Kaamya Karthikeyan. Kaamya summited one of the highest Himalayan peaks, Mount Stok Kangri (20,187 feet or 6,153 meters above sea level) on August 7 that is her 10th birthday.She is the youngest to climb Mt Stok Kangri in the Ladakh Himalayas. Two months ago she made it to the Mt Everest base camp with the Indian Navy team and now she climbed Stok Kangri peak with her parents. However, rather than celebrating her victory, Kaamya is now preparing for her upcoming school exams from Leh.Earlier, this navy officer's daughter has climbed many high altitude hills and has been introduced to the Himalayas and trekking when she was in her mother's womb at Vaishnodevi in Jammu . Always calm and collected, Kaamya takes her victories in a stoic manner. "We reached the base camp at 5 pm after 19 hours of toil. Kaamya walked to the dining tent and picked up a Sudoku book and started solving a puzzle. Even when she reached the summit at 9.45 am after 12 hours of walking through the night, her reaction was, 'It has been a long day, yeah very long,' and during the climb kept asking if her speed is good enough," said her father, S Karthikeyan.The team comprised Kaamya, her mother, father, a co-climber to photograph the climb and two sherpas. It was not just the blessings of the mountain gods but also her unbelievable determination and grit that propelled her to scale mountains. "With less than a month left for Kaamya's attempt to Mt Stok Kangri, she did a 20-km cycle ride from home to the base of the Simhachalam Hills. This was followed by a 4-hour 400 metre trek to the top. She pedalled back home, another 20 km. So it was 40 km of cycling, four hours of the trek and eight hours in the open, non-stop," said her mother Laavanya.However, this climb was very different and more challenging. Elaborating, Karthikeyan said "When one lands in Leh, one is already at 3,500 metres. So we had to do a lot of acclimatization by traveling across Khardungla pass (world's highest motorable pass) twice. We then traveled across Changla pass (world's second highest motorable pass) and even stayed overnight at Pangong Lake, which is about 4,300 metres.""But though the landscape was almost barren, I enjoyed the terrain and the beauty of the tiny, brightly coloured flowers. I loved hopping across glacial streams and touching the horses that were ferrying expedition loads around. But the real challenge was the 12-hour summit climb and back, which was continuous from the base camp," said Kaamya, a student of Navy Children School "The climb is directly from the base camp to the summit and back as camping at the intermediary advance base camp (ABC) was prohibited a few years ago. Therefore now, it is a direct climb of about 1,100 metres lasting for an average of about 14 to 17 hours. A huge altitude gain, combined with an extremely long day at work has made the success of Stok Kangri's summit extremely challenging," explained Kaamya's father.During the climb, just to keep Kaamya's motivation high, her father mentioned to her that he will make her climb Mt Kilimanjaro or Mt Elbrus next. "After coming back to the base camp, Kaamya asked me when we are travelling to Africa or Russia . So, it might be Mount Kilimanjaro and Mt Elbrus if we can get the finances," said Karthikeyan.With realistic dreams to scale Mount Everest in future, the determined Kaamya will continue with her rendezvous with various Himalayan and other high altitude peaks. "In the summer vacation, I would like to undergo a mountaineering course to gain training that would prepare me for higher and tougher climbs. And in January, I will undertake ski training to participate in the Winter National Games," averred Kaamya, an accomplished swimmer, cyclist, marathon runner, Bharatnatyam dancer and Carnatic classical singer.

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