If successful she will also become the youngest Indian woman to conquer the peak

Literally striving to achieve greater heights, city youngster Krushnaa Patil is all set to conquer Mount Everest. A part of the Mount Everest Summit organised by Asian Trekking Institute (ATI) led by Dawa Stephan Sherpa, if successful, Patil, 19, will hold a record of becoming the youngest Indian woman to have concurred the highest peak in the world.

"She has been a regular visitor and student at the Nehru Institute of Mountaineering, (NIM) Uttarkashi since 2005. Last year, she was supposed to be a part of the Pre Everest Expedition organised by NIM. However, things did not work out the way we expected due to issues related to team size. It was after this that we got to know that ATI, Nepal organises Everest expeditions and we approached them for the same," said Ranjana Patil, Krushnaa's mother.

Having joined the expedition with a team of six US, two German and five Austrian nationals accompanied by 18 sherpas and six cooks, Krushnaa started the expedition on April 12 with personal assistance by Ghaluk Sherpa. "On April 20, the team reached Everest base camp, post which they have been doing rotational training involving visiting camp one, two, three and returning back to the base camp in order to get adjusted to the rough weather conditions," said Ranjana Patil.

Currently at Pheriche, 4,300 metres above the mean sea level, final span of Krushnaa's expedition will begin on May 17 and the summit is expected to be conquered by May 20. "We are now at Pheriche waiting for the weather to clear and ready for the final summit push. Tomorrow we'll be at Lobuche and then back at base camp on the May 13 and then up and back as fast as possible," said Krushnaa, in a blog posted by her on May 11.

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