Bachendri Pal, (born May 24, 1954, Nakuri, India), Indian mountaineer who in 1984 became the first Indian woman to reach the summit of Mount Everest. She led an all-woman rafting expedition down the Ganges River in 1994, covering over 1,500 miles (2,500 km). In 1997 she led an all-woman team on a successful 2,500-mile (4,000-km) transit of the Himalayas, beginning in Arunachal Pradesh and concluding at the Siachen Glacier. She was awarded the Padma Shri, India’s fourth highest civilian award, in 1984.

She had been expected to become a schoolteacher(a traditional woman's job in India) but decided Nope, I'm gonna be a mountaineer.

On a mixed-gender expedition up the mountain her camp was buried in an avalanche and half the team had to return home. But she continued with a small group. She was the only woman in the group to make it to the summit.

During the 2013 North India floods, Bachendri Pal quietly arrived with a group of climbers and carried out relief and rescue operations

Read more about this amazing mountaineer here: http://indiatoday.intoday.in/…/…/bachendri-pal/1/674965.html

Other Sources:

Britannica.com

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