Jharkhand mountaineer eyes five world summits

The first woman mountaineer from Jharkhand Premlata Agarwal, who conquered Mount Everest last May, is now aiming to scale the remaining five summits across the world.

Also the country's oldest woman to scale the world's highest peak Mount Everest, 45-year-old Premlata is all set to scale five summits across the world, Bachendri Pal, the chief of Tata Steel Adventure Foundation, said in Jamshedpur, on Tuesday.

Pal, the first woman from the country to conquer Mt Everest in 1984, said Premlata will set off for a 20-day long expedition to Mt Aconcagua (22,960 ft) in Mendoza, Argentina (South America) from January 29.

She will be accompanied by a tribal girl Binita Soren and male member Meghlal Mahto, Pal said adding that they will be leaving Kolkata for Mendoza, on 27th January.

Premlata, who had already climbed two highest peaks including Mt. Everest (Asia) and  Mt. Kilimanjaro (Africa), will aim to climb Mt Denali in North America, Mt Vinson in Antarctica, Mt. Elbrus in Europe and Carstenze in Australia.

Tata Steel, which is sponsoring the Mt. Aconcagua expedition, has sanctioned Rs 11 lakh for the said purpose, Pal said.