Kalpana Dash
Indian mountaineer and lawyer (1966–2019)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Kalpana Dash (Odia: କଳ୍ପନା ଦାଶ; 7 July 1966 – 23 May 2019) was an Indian mountaineer and the first Odia climber to scale Mount Everest. She scaled Mount Everest on 21 May 2008, along with a team of five members from the United States, Canada and Nepal.
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Full name | Kalpana Dash |
| Nationality | Indian |
| Born | 7 July 1966 |
| Died | 23 May 2019 (aged 52) Mount Everest |
| Climbing career | |
| Highest grade | |
| Major ascents | Denali, Kilimanjaro, Mount Everest, Vinson Massif, Puncak Jaya, Elbrus, Damavand, Aconcagua, Ojos del Salado, Pico de Orizaba |
She had attempted to climb Mount Everest twice before, once in 2004 and once in 2006, but failed due to bad weather and health conditions.[1][2][3][4][5][6]
Death
On 23 May 2019, Dash again summited Everest with two others, but became ill on the descent and died just above the balcony of Mount Everest.[7][8]
The cause of her death was the unusual congestion near the summit of Mount Everest because of a narrow climbing window made narrower by severe weather conditions and the Nepal government issuing permits to several hundred climbers during Everest famous Black Friday stunt to reach the summit at a premium.[9][10] At least 11 climbers — many of them veteran mountain climbers like Dash — from Nepal, Europe, United States and India died during the 2019 climbing season in April and May 2019.[11][12] Donald Cash from Utah in the United States and Anjali Kulkarni from India were among those who died in the same week as Dash.[13]
Her body was recovered by Sherpas and brought to India.[14]
By the time of her death, She had successfully completed the Seven Summits and five of the Volcanic Seven Summits.
Expeditions
- Mount Everest - Asia's highest peak - 8,848 m successfully summited on 21 May 2008
- Denali - North America's highest peak - 6,190 m successfully summited on 15 June 2010
- Kilimanjaro- Africa's highest peak - 5,895 m successfully summited on 9 October 2014
- Aconcagua - South America's highest peak - 6,962 m successfully summited on 16 January 2015
- Mount Elbrus - Europe's highest peak - 5,642 m successfully summited on 31 July 2015
- Mount Vinson - Antarctica's highest peak 4,892 meters m successfully summited on 23 December 2015
- Carstensz Pyramid - Oceania's highest peak 4,884 m successfully summited on 12 November 2016
- Ojos del Salado - Chile's highest peak 6,893 m successfully summited on 22 December 2017
- Damavand - Iran's highest peak 5,610 m successfully summited on 20 June 2018
- Pico de Orizaba - Mexico's highest peak 5,636 m successfully summited on 10 October 2018