“My reason for climbing Mount Everest was to show that girls can achieve anything.”
Malavath Poorna (also known as North Malavath, Purna Malavath and Poorna Malavath) was born on June 10, 2000. She is an Indian mountaineer and the youngest girl in the world to climb Mount Everest at the age of 13 years and 11 months. She scaled the highest peak of Mount Everest. Poorna is from a very poor family as her parents are farm laborers in Pakala village in the state of Telangana in India and earn less than 5,000 rupees a month. Her talent was discovered by Dr. RS Praveen Kumar, an IPS officer who first noticed her during climbing training in Bhongir, Telangana. Under the able guidance of trainer Shekhar Babu, who trained her for 8 months, she was selected from 10 students from 300 welfare schools and sent to the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute in Darjeeling. As part of her preparation, she climbed Mount Renock at 17,000 feet in the Kangchenjunga range in the Himalayas and the mountains around Ladakh at -35 degrees Celsius. On May 25, 2014, she together with S. Anand Kumar, a 16-year-old boy, and a group of Sherpas climbed the highest peak of Mount Everest after a 52-day expedition from the Tibetan side because the Nepalese government did not Allows Climbers under the age of 16.
After the expedition, he had the opportunity to meet with the Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra Modi, where they received certificates. The Chief Minister of Telangana Kalvakuntla Chandrasekhar Rao (KCR) handed out 25 lakhs each, five acres of farmland each, and a two-bedroom house for each family with the help needed for their education. He later climbed Mount Elbrus, the highest peak in Russia and Europe on July 27, 2017 around 10:00 a.m. (IST). In 2017, a film based on his life called Poorna: Courage has no limit, directed by Rahul Bose, was released.
Her goal is to climb the seven highest peaks located on seven continents, and to date, she has climbed six highest mountain peaks on six continents, making her the world’s first and youngest tribal woman. By the age of 18, he had stepped on the six highest mountain peaks on six continents, including Mount Everest (Asia, 2014), Mount Kilimanjaro (Africa, 2016), Mount Elbrus (Europe, 2017), Mount Aconcagua (South America, 2019), Mt. Carstensz (Oceania, 2019) and Mt. Vinson Massif (Antarctica, 2019).
An inspiration to many young women Poorna is currently pursuing an undergraduate course at Minnesota State University, USA, as a fellow student in the Global Undergraduate Exchange Program.