Kalpana scales Mount Everest

In a rare feat, Kalpana Dash (38), hailing from Dhenkanal in Orissa, 90 km from Bhubaneswar, the state capital, became the first person from the state to conquer Mount Everest, the highest peak, on Wednesday.

The news was confirmed by Arun Trek and Expedition Training, Nepal. The camp general manager Dawa Sherpa, confirmed that Kalpana was doing well and her health condition was fine. She has already begun her return journey. Kalpana's aim to scale the Everest got a beating twice earlier owing to hostile weather condition. In fact, there was a time when Kalpana despite having high aims didn't have the means to complete her objective of scaling the mountain. Later help flowed from people of the state to make her realise her dreams. Tears welled up in the eyes of Sailabala Dash' , Kalpana's mother who said this was the most memorable moment for the family. ``Before Kalpana left for the expedition this time, she had said she will not come back home if she is not successful,'' an emotional Sailabala said. Hundreds of well-wishers flocked to Kalpana's home to wish the family and congratulatory messages were coming from all over the state as soon as the news spread. Kalpana was heading a team of five people including Ruszard Kurdziel from Canada and Lhakpa Sherpa, Kusang Tendzing Sherpa and Ngima Nuru Sherpa from Nepal. Dedicated and committed to her aim, Kalpana always wanted to realise her dream and bring laurels to her home state and the country as she would be the first civilian from the country to have achieved this. An advocate by profession, Kalpana was always in awe of the mountain ranges and aimed to scale the highest peak. In her first attempt in 2004, she had to return due to bad weather. Again after a couple of years, she tried scaling the mountain but again the weather played spoilsport. Undeterred, she began her sojourn on April 3 this year from a base camp. Besides Kalpana, there were many others who reached the top of the Everest on the same day. There was a ban imposed on climbing the mountain following protests against the Olympic torch. As soon as the ban was lifted on May 9, a day after the Chinese climbers took the Olympic torch to the summit, the trekkers began their attempt. The news of the feat was hosted on www.arunexpedition.com.