Woman scales Dhaulagiri sans supplemental O2

Kolkata: Mountaineer Piyali Basak from Chandanagore in Hooghly district of Bengal made history on Friday by scaling the dangerous peak Dhaulagiri (8167 m) without supplemental oxygen, thus becoming the first Indian to do so.

"I am not aware if any Indian man climbed Dhaulagiri without oxygen. It could be that Piyali may be the first person from India to have climbed Mt Dhaulagiri without supplemental oxygen and probably the first civilian from India to climb an 8000m without oxygen," Satyarup Siddhanta, wrote on his Facebook page congratulating Piyali for her feat. Siddhanta happens to be the youngest mountaineer in the world and the first from India to climb both the Seven Summits as well as Seven Volcanic Summits. "She is climbing down the base camp and we are anxiously waiting for her safe return," Tamali Basak, Piyali's sister said.

Piyali had left the state for Nepal on September 5.