My Introduction - How I Climbed Mount Everest At The Age Of 16

Namaste from India! My name is Arjun Vajpai and I am a mountaineer who dreamt of climbing Everest at the age 16 and I achieved it! On the 22nd of May 2010 at 6:18am, time stopped for me. Where was I? I was standing at 29,035 feet, on the roof of this world - Mt. Everest, unfurling the Indian National Flag, becoming the youngest person ever to climb Mt. Everest at that point of time.

There was a small Buddha statue at the summit, placed there by the Sherpa's. I knelt down and bowed down in front of it. I felt complete. When I got up and looked around, I felt like I ruled the world. I was standing at the highest point of this earth with Himalayas stretched out below me and nothing to obstruct my view. The earth was bending round in all directions and the sun was rising from behind it, that too below my eye level. Half of the sky was still dark and I could see the sun rays travel in the sky lighting up the world inch by inch. That was it! My soul was hooked to this world and I knew there and then - this is what I want for the rest of my life.

Since then I have become the youngest person in the world to climb five of the fourteen highest peaks in the world.

1. Mt. Everest 2010
2. Mt. Lhotse (4th highest peak in the world) 2011
3. Mt. Manaslu (8th highest mountain in the world) 2011
4. Mt. Makalu (5th highest mountain in the world) 2016
5. Mt. Cho Oyu (6th highest mountain in the world) 2016

I was born and brought up in the city Noida in India. My dad is an army veteran and my mother is a warrior, like all mothers are! Since my school days I was very much into sports like karate, taekwondo, football and hockey. I was never to be found in classrooms. Every day after my mom dropped me off to school, I would head straight to the playground. The concept of mugging up literature in school and jotting them down in exams never interested me so my marks were always below average which was a big headache for my parents, obviously!

In 2009, at the age of 15, I went for my Basic and Advanced Mountaineering Course in Uttarkashi, India. This is where my passion for the mountains was groomed into the right direction and during our summit attempt on Mt. DKD 2 in the advance course; I was identified as Everest material and my instructors nurtured me and boosted my confidence to climb Everest. Turning this dream into a reality was no easy task.

Apart from being a mountaineer, I work as a motivational speaker across various corporate, schools and college.

Currently, I live in Noida with my core team. We are working on various projects which will revolutionize the outdoor culture in India very soon. Mountaineering is a sport where one requires immense physical and mental strength, so when I am not in the mountains, I am always training and preparing myself for the next expedition. My training starts at 3:30am and goes up to 11-12 hours a day which is divided in specifically designed sessions.

My next expedition begins on 1st of April 2018 to the 3rd highest mountain in the world, Kangchenjunga (8586m). I was at Kangchenjunga in 2017 but due to bad weather, we had to abandon the expedition. This would be the most challenging expedition for me so far as I am planning to attempt it without the use of supplementary oxygen and without the support of a personal Sherpa. The last successful summit on Kangchenjunga was back in 2013. Since then, all attempts have failed or ended in disaster. With only 187 summiteers so far and death rate up to 25%, Kangchenjunga is one of the most difficult and dangerous mountains in the world. I am training day and night for the expedition, leaving no stones unturned. With only 30 days left, I am very excited but also very nervous at the same time.

I will be writing about my experiences and journey on the highest mountains of the world, about my training regime, posting some crazy pictures from the previous expeditions and also live updates once my Kangchenjunga expedition kicks off next month!

Thank you @its.parth.hey for introducing me to Steemit. I am very excited to begin my journey on Steemit and looking forward to connecting with all of you! Cheers!

You can follow me on:
Facebook - www.facebook.com/VajpaiArjun
Instagram - www.instagram.com/arjunvajpai
Twitter- www.twitter.com/arjunv_everest