Kalpana Dash

Kalpana Dash (born July 7, 1966, in Dhenkanal, Orissa) is an Indian lawyer and mountaineer. She was the first Odia mountaineer to scale Mount Everest. She scaled Mount Everest on 21 May 2008, along with a team of five members from the United States, Canada and Nepal.

She had attempted to climb Mount Everest twice before, once in 2004 and once in 2006, but failed due to bad weather and health conditions.

Acknowledging her achievement to the wishes of her well-wishers, Dash said, "It is due to God’s mercy and the best wishes of my family that I was able to scale Everest and returned safely. I’m happy and am keen to attempt climbing it again."

References