12-yr-old Mumbai girl becomes world's youngest to climb Mt. Aconcagua

A 12-year-old student from Mumbai, Kaamya Karthikeyan has become the youngest in the world to summit Mt. Aconcagua, the highest peak of the Andes Mountains in Argentina, South America, an official said here on Sunday.

Kaamya, a Class VII student of Navy Children School, climbed atop the 6,962 metres tall mountain on February 1 and unfurled the Indian flag.

Kaamya had summited Ladakh's 6,260 metres Mt. Mentok Kangri II, under extreme cold weather conditions on August 24, 2019.

"Years of physical, mental preparations, regular participation in adventure sports combined with a strong character helped Kaamya in overcoming many hurdles and extreme climbing conditions to achieve this rare feat," an official told IANS.

As a child, Kaamya had developed a deep passion for mountaineering as she listened to her father's stories of Himalayan-scaling expeditions. Her father is an Indian Navy Commander S. Karthikeyan, her mother Lavanya is an early childhood teacher.

Call it a miracle, but Kaamya had started doing basic treks to Lonavala at just the age of three. By the age of nine, she had completed several high-altitude Himalayan treks with her parents including Roopkund (5,020 metres) in Uttarakhand. At 10, she reached the Everest Base Camp in Nepal (5,346 metres) and then became the youngest mountaineer to summit Mt. Stok Kangri (6,153 metres) in Ladakh.

Kaamya has also scaled Mt. Kilimanjaro (5,895 metres) the highest peak in Africa, Mt; Elbrus (5,642 metres), the highest mountain in Europe and then Australia's tallest mountain Mt. Kosciuszko (2,228 metres).

By 2021, she aims to complete the exclusive 'Explorers Grand Slam' - which involves the competitors to climb the tallest mountains in all continents besides skiing on the North Pole and South Pole.