NEW DELHI: A woman described as the “worst climber” on Everest has abandoned her attempt to summit the world’s highest peak after a desperate plea from residents of her town in India’s Punjab state, reports said on Friday.
Sukhwinder Kaur Sukhi had refused to give up her bid to conquer the 8,848-metre-high (29,028-foot) Everest because her town, Muktsar, had rallied together to sponsor her, the Indian Express said, adding that expedition leader Jamie McGuiness had feared for her life.
McGuiness, head of the 14-member Project Himalaya expedition which took Sukhi under its wing after she arrived in Kathmandu with little else but the cash raised by the people of Muktsar, had raised the alarm in an email, the daily said.
“This is an emergency email as Sukhi is in great danger,” McGuiness said in the message to Sukhi’s friend Paramjit Kaur Pammy.
“She wants to climb Mount Everest so much that she will not come down from the mountain. We care for Sukhi and are very worried for her life as she is very high on Mount Everest. If she tries to continue climbing she will surely die.”
The Asia Age said another member of the expedition, Australian Duncan Chessell, had also sent out an SOS after Sukhi said she would rather die on the mountain than turn back.
“She is totally out of her depth,” Chesssell wrote on the expedition’s website. “Not sufficient climbing experience to summit, no stamina, no speed, no skills, no balance, She is the worst climber on the mountain.”
He added that Sukhi had twice tried to climb above 7,700 metres, “but each time she crawls about 50 metres with her Sherpa, then back again over about two hours like the most pathetic climber ever.” However, she refused to quit.
“I will never come down without climbing the summit; if I die I will be at peace with my gods,” Chessell quoted her as saying.
The press reports said that the people of Muktsar had in a return email pleaded with Sukhi to come home, saying she was more precious to them than Everest and that no one would fault her for not reaching the summit.
The plea did the trick and late on Thursday an email reply was received, “Sukhi has climbed down.”—AFP