Hyderabad-based teenager scales Mt. Kilimanjaro by rightly balancing her physical and mental fitness.

Mt. Kilimanjaro is the Africa’s tallest peak, and is also the world’s tallest free standing mountain. The summit, named Uhuru Point stands at 5,895 meters (19,341 feet) above sea level. It lies just 205 miles from the equator, in Tanzania. According to the reports, approximately 30,000 people climb Kilimanjaro every year. Though it doesn't require technical skills and rigourous training to climb the mountain, 50% of the climbers fail to ascend it. It requires one to choose the 'right path' instead of the 'shortest path' while climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro. Another interesting aspect of Mt. Kilimanjaro is that it presents a variety of weather conditions to the trekker. The base of the mountain tends to maintain the tropical to semi-temparate climate relatively being stable all year round. The lower plains are hot and dry. As the backpacker heads towards the rainforest, weather turns warm and humid. As the elevation increases, each zone gets colder and drier. Through the heath and Alpin desert zones, plant and animal life also becomes thin. The summit which is in the arctic zone is characterized by extreme climate and is covered with ice and rock. This rainbow of climates is what makes the ascent special, with mountaineers talking about the same. 13-year-old girl from Hyderabad who recently trekked Mt. Kilimanjaro shares the similar tone. 

Muriki Pulakita Hasvi stood as yet another example to tell the world that climbing Mt Kilimanjaro doesn't require you to be old enough. "It was an adventurous experience, Mount Kilimanjaro is such a mountain where you experience all the weather conditions so I decided to climb." 

Preparations - Mentally and Physically: 

Muriki Pulakita Hasvi hails from Hyderabad, Telangana. She developed interest in mountaineering and trekking after watching movie in her childhood. "After watching the movie, I was inclined towards mountaineering and dug deep. I started with the Everest base camp", she mentioned. She began her preparations to ascend Mt. Kilimanjaro right after she came back from the Everest base camp that happened in April of 2021. When she was in the Everest base camp, she felt the zeal in her to complete all seven summits and has started preparing for the same right after she completed it. "I trained my sweat out for it", she says. She trained for four months. She would walk from 11p.m to 5:30 a.m., has done continuous cycling of 100km in a specific circle, and has done walking, skipping and everything that she could do, to be fit. She said that apart from maintaining her physical fitness, she learnt that mountaineering needs one to be mentally strong. Thus, Hasvi would practice Yoga and meditation to keep herself mentally sound. 

Self-motivation Is The Key: 

To manage the extreme weather conditions there, Pulakita says that she had to get all of herself together. "I had to keep on motivating myself whenever I faced instances that provoked me to give up", said Pulakita adding that self-motivation played an important role while summiting. This played a huge role when she was about to give up due to extreme weather conditions. "I would think of my parents' reactions if I would be able to summit successfully. I also would think about all the hard work I did to reach till there. If I would give up, all of that goes in vain", she mentioned how she would motivate herself. Finally, she held the tricolour at the peak of the mountain making India proud. 

To Scale All Seven: 

Hasvi says that she sees what's in store for her in the years to follow. She has already set a goal in her mind that she shall be scaling all seven summits before 2024. She also mentioned that her preparations to achieve the same are in progress. 

To all of those who feel saddened by little things, she advices them to wake up to self-healing and motivation. "My message to all young generations is not to ask them to choose Mountaineering but to basically tell them to conquer their mountain in their lives.", She says. 

Kudos to the teenage mountaineer who has been striving to better herself up by setting goals to make it bigger in life. India needs teenagers like her.

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