It was more challenging to take toddler daughter to EBC than scaling Everest: Bhavna Dehariya

PTI, Mar 28, 2024, 8:56 AM IST

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Taking two-and-a-half-year-old Bhopal girl Siddhi Mishra to the Everest Base Camp was more challenging than conquering the world’s highest peak, said the mountaineer mother of the toddler, who has become one of the youngest children to reach the EBC in Nepal.

The Everest Base Camp (EBC) is situated at the towering height of 5,364 meter above sea level.

Like any other child, Siddhi loves to play and scribble on the wall of her house, but her recent achievement of scaling the EBC along with her mountaineer mother sets her apart from other kids.

”Everest Base Camp”, she told PTI on Wednesday when her mother Bhavna Dehariya asked her about her achievement which has suddenly put her in the limelight.

Accompanied by her mother Dehariya, who successfully scaled the Mount Everest in 2019, and her father Mahim Mishra, Siddhi completed the challenging EBC journey on March 22.

The news was confirmed by a statement released by a private trekking company on Tuesday.

When Siddhi’s mother asked her what she liked most at the EBC, she replied ”ice” and also nodded in ‘yes’ when asked whether she had also eaten the snow spread across the camp with a new landmark at the base camp.

Siddhi along with her parents embarked on the arduous trek on March 12, and reached the EBC landmark ten days later.

Dehariya said ”It was more challenging to take her (Siddhi) to the EBC than climbing the Mount Everest (located at an altitude of 8,849 meters). As I am a professional mountaineer, I was able to do it…it is not possible for normal parents to do so.” ”I ensured that everything that she will need will be there with me during the trek. Before embarking to the EBC, I took her to Leh and Ladakh to see that how well she gets acclimatized to the harsh weather conditions, especially oxygen level, and when I found that it was good, then only I decided to take her to EBC,” Dehariya said.

Dehariya said she has also scaled a number of other mountains peak around the world, including Australia’s Mount Kosciuszko (2,228 mt), Africa’s Mount Kilimanjaro (5, 895 mt) and South America’s Aconcagua (6,962 mt).