Scaling heights at 17: Mithil Dedhia becomes the youngest person to climb Mt. Everest from Mumbai

Let's look at the story of Mithil Dedia, who became the youngest person to climb Mt. Everest from Mumbai at the age of 17 years.

Scaling the highest peak in the world seems like a distant dream for some but this boy claimed it at the age of 17 years. Mithil who hails from Mulund in Mumbai, became the youngest person to climb Mt. Everest from Mumbai and the third youngest individual in India to do so. Just after giving his 12th-grade exams, he commenced a journey of 25 days to achieve this milestone. "I am proud of myself because this year (2023) was the coldest in 70 years from when expeditions started on Mt. Everest," says Mithil while interacting with Local Samosa.

Mithil started his journey with mountains at the age of 7 after getting inspired by his mama (Uncle) Keval Kakka who is a professional mountaineer and a 'Tenzing Norgay National Adventure Awardee', the highest Adventure Award. He is 3rd Indian to scale seven out of the fourteen 8000 m. mountains, also known as eight-thousanders. "He used to take me to treks and campings in the Sahyadri ranges, and from there on, my interest in mountaineering started," says Mithil. After doing some treks, he started with snow treks and long treks in 2018. And then, in 2021, he commenced mountaineering when he did two expeditions - Kang Yatse II (6250 m.) and attempted Mentok Kangri (6,270 m.). "This is when I thought of doing Mt. Everest," recalls Mithil on his dream of scaling the highest peak.

History in the making

The expedition first starts with a Trek to base camp, and Mithil feels it is more difficult than the actual expedition because the terrain is completely uphill and has rocky sections. "There were 13 people from our group who attempted, but only 5 of them made it to the top; Sunil Roila (32) from Haryana, Pankhil Chedda (35) from Mumbai, Yashi Jain (25) from Chattisgarh and a Polish mountaineer. "The feeling of accomplishment is surreal, but you have to face a lot of difficulties such as oxygen issues as you don't feel comfortable because you are not used to wearing masks, back pain issues, exhaustion, heat strokes because you are very near to the sun, and sleep deprivation," says the mountaineer.

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Distance away from becoming the youngest person to climb Lhotse Peak

Since Mt. Everest is a commercialized mountain, there is a lot of traffic jam, and Mithil's mask got stuck at 8600 m. at the start of the Hillary Step. So he did not get any oxygen supply as the frost was formed at the nozzle through which the oxygen enters. "I had to remove my mask to breathe, but there is not enough oxygen in the atmosphere as well, says Mithil. The teenager also got frostbite at camp two and took a fall of 70 m. on a rocky patch while descending as his hands were numb, due to which he couldn't feel the rappelling rope and lost balance. "Due to this, I couldn't ascend the Lhotse peak, which was just 7 hours from the Mt. Everest peak. If I had done that, I would be the youngest person in the world to do so," states the 17-year-old. But that is the best decision that he took as the frostbite was really bad and if he had continued to scale, he wouldn't have made it as the ascend to Lhotse is vertical and requires a lot of endurance.

Making them Proud

All this didn't even bother the young boy as he made his parents proud by holding their picture at the top of the world's highest peak. 'I'll never forget the four days that I spent at camp three as it was a 10-hour climb before that with a 60-degree slope. People get exhausted, and all they want is to sleep, but I was literally dancing there,' shares Mithil on one of his best feelings on the summit. 'Just keep training and be fit. Keep a positive attitude and the willpower to scale not just the mountains but anything in Life,' Mithil on what he feels everyone should try to be.

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