“My reason for climbing Mount Everest was to prove that girls can achieve anything.”
Malavath Poorna (also known as Northern Malavath, Purna Malavath and Poorna Malavath) was born on June 10, 2000. She is an Indian mountaineer and the world’s youngest girl to climb Mount Everest at the age of 13 years and 11 months. She climbed the highest peak of Mount Everest. Poorna belongs to a very poor family as her parents are farm workers in the village of Pakala in the state of Telangana in India earning less than 5,000 rupees a month. Her talent was discovered by Dr. RS Praveen Kumar, an IPS officer who first noticed her during climbing training in Bhongir, Telangana. Under the able guidance of coach Shekhar Babu, who coached her for 8 months, she was selected out of 10 students from 300 welfare schools and sent to the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute in Darjeeling. As part of her preparation, she climbed Mount Renock at 17,000 feet in the Kangchenjunga range in the Himalayas and the mountains around Ladakh at -35 degrees Celsius. On May 25, 2014, together with S. Anand Kumar, a 16-year-old boy and a group of Sherpas climbed the highest peak of Mount Everest after a 52-day expedition from the Tibetan side because the Nepalese government does not allow Climbers under 16 years of age.
After the expedition, he had the opportunity to meet with the Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra Modi, where they received certificates. Telangana Chief Minister Kalvakuntla Chandrasekhar Rao (KCR) handed over 25 lakhs to each, five acres of farmland each and a two-bedroom house for each family with necessary help for their education. He later climbed Mount Elbrus, the highest peak in Russia and Europe on July 27, 2017 around 10:00 AM (IST). In 2017, a film based on his life called Poorna: Courage has no limit, directed by Rahul Bose, was released.
Her goal is to climb the seven highest peaks located on seven continents, and to date, she has climbed six highest mountain peaks on six continents, making her the world’s first and youngest tribal woman. By the age of 18, he had trodden the six highest mountain peaks on six continents, including Mount Everest (Asia, 2014), Mount Kilimanjaro (Africa, 2016), Mount Elbrus (Europe, 2017), Mount Aconcagua (South America, 2019), Mt. Carstensz (Oceania, 2019) and Mt. Vinson Massif (Antarctica, 2019).
An inspiration to many young women Poorna is currently completing an undergraduate course at Minnesota State University, USA, as a Global Undergraduate Exchange Program student.