The man who speed-climbs summits, pauses for Sikkim

WORLD RECORD HOLDER FOR FASTEST SEVEN SUMMITS IMPRESSED WITH TREKS IN SIKKIM
“Challenge enthralls me and courage, conviction and free spirit define me; Never give up, never give in! is the mantra I live by,” exclaims 34-year-old Malli Mastan Babu, the world record holder for the Fastest Seven Summits across the world.
Hailing from Nellore district of Andhra Pradesh, Mr. Babu is the first person, and the only one at that, to have scaled the summits of seven mountains across the world, including Mt. Everest, in a record time of 172 days between 19 January to 10 July 2006. Not only that, his feat had been planned such that the seven summits were successfully scaled on different days of the week and in each month of the seven-month period.
During the stupendous feat, the climber became the first Indian to summit Mt. Vinson Massif, the tallest peak in the Antarctica, and Mt. Carstensz Pyramid, the tallest peak in Indonesia/ Oceania, and the fastest Indian841 ft in 8 days), Mt. Kilimanjaro (19354 ft in 3.5 days), Mt. Denali, USA (20,320 ft in 7 days) and Mt. Elbrus, Russia/Europe (18,512 ft in 2 days) and the first person from Andhra Pradesh to summit Mt. Everest, Nepal (29,035 ft), the highest mountain in the world. These are the seven peaks which stand tall on the world record.
Besides, he has also scaled Mt. Kosciuzsko, Australia at 7,310 ft. In an exclusive chat with NOW!, Mr. Babu shared his experiences and multi-pronged achievements as well as his insatiable affinity for the alpine trails of Sikkim which has brought him here once again.
“I am here to do the Yuksom-Dzongri trek in West Sikkim with a friend, K Jayashanker from Pune. We are conducting a Corporate Training Trek for executives of a Denmark-based company from Delhi, DANFOSS. There will be a total of eight members in the team which will begin the trek on 28 April and we plan to complete it in 4 days, which is a huge challenge. The main objective of this undertaking is to help the team members get important lessons on leadership skills wherein the extreme weather and tough trekking requirements are expected to put their skills to real tests of endurance,” he informed.
On the selection of the Dzongri trek amongst the numerous trekking destinations in the world, he explained, “The world renowned Kanchendzonga National Park lies within this trail and also this is one of the most challenging and spectacular trekking trails in the world, while the feeling one will get after accomplishing this feat is simply unmatchable; Sikkim is also one place in the world which is in close proximity with the Himalayas, where else can you view them after a mere four hour drive from the sea level? This is surely amongst the best trekking trails across the globe and there is something about this place which compels me to come here again and again”.
This is his third visit to Sikkim and the Dzongri trek will be his second, while he has also done the Goechala trek when he had organized several adventure courses for IIM Kolkata, from where he passed out with a PGDM in 2004, in West Sikkim. He has also worked as a senior software engineer between 1998 and 2001.
A legend in the making, the man arrived here on 18 April and is a guest of the Black Cat Division here. He was part of the inaugural function of the Water Shed War Memorial at Sherathang where he met with the Chief Minister, Pawan Chamling.“The Chief Minister has assured us all support towards promoting adventure tourism through trekking and mountaineering here and he has even asked for my expertise in this field which I am more than glad to furnish,” he mentioned.
Mr. Babu also met with the Secretary Tourism who invited him to be part of the International Trekking Expedition to begin 01 May but to which he is unable to commit since he will be part of another expedition in the same area.“However, I shall return to Sikkim soon and encourage and inform more people to come explore the rich trekking trails and mountains here,” he added.
Among his other achievements is the first Indian Solo & Fastest Ascent of the tallest peak of Western Hemisphere, Mt. Aconcagua (22,841 ft) in 01-08 February 2005 and the fastest Indian Ascent of Mt. Kilimanjaro (19,354 ft), the tallest peak of Africa, in 3.5 days in January 2005.
Last year during 07 June to 25 July, the phenomenal mountaineer also bagged the record for the first ever High Altitude Traverse of ‘4 Dhaams’ spanning trekking and climbing of 900 km, while the following month, on 15 August, he led the first exclusive Indian team to summit the Kilimanjaro, becoming the first Indian to summit the mountain thrice in the process.
Apart from mountain climbing, Mr. Babu is also an avid marathon runner which has earned him more records to his overflowing cup of achievements.
In October 2007, he became the first Indian to run the half marathon of 21.2 km distance in 14 days across 14 states, including Meghalaya, Assam, Manipur, Nagaland, Jharkhand, Bihar, Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Kerela and Andhra Pradesh. The same year in December, he also became the first Indian to run 8 full marathons (42.2 Km) and 3 half marathons in 13 days, spanning 10 Indian states, Jammu & Kashmir, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Uttarakhand, UP, Chattisgarh, W. Bengal, Mizoram and Orissa.
Mr. Babu has been honoured with the Conjee Rustamjee Cohoujee Bey Award for Outstanding Youth of the Year-2006 for his world record of the Fastest Seven Summiteer from Senator John Kerry (2004 US Presidential Candidate) at Disney Concert Hall, Los Angeles. He has also been conferred the title ‘Pride of India’ by Indo American Friendship Council at Dallas Texas, also in 2006, and further felicitated in New York, Silicon Valley, Chicago, Dallas and California by various organizations. He was also conferred the Army Commander’s Commendation at to ascent Mt. Aconcagua, Argentina (22, 841 ft in 8 days), Mt. Kilimanjaro (19354 ft in 3.5 days), Mt. Denali, USA (20,320 ft in 7 days) and Mt. Elbrus, Russia/Europe (18,512 ft in 2 days) and the first person from Andhra Pradesh to summit Mt. Everest, Nepal (29,035 ft), the highest mountain in the world. These are the seven peaks which stand tall on the world record.
Besides, he has also scaled Mt. Kosciuzsko, Australia at 7,310 ft.
In an exclusive chat with NOW!, Mr. Babu shared his experiences and multi-pronged achievements as well as his insatiable affinity for the alpine trails of Sikkim which has brought him here once again.
“I am here to do the Yuksom-Dzongri trek in West Sikkim with a friend, K Jayashanker from Pune. We are conducting a Corporate Training Trek for executives of a Denmark-based company from Delhi, DANFOSS. There will be a total of eight members in the team which will begin the trek on 28 April and we plan to complete it in 4 days, which is a huge challenge. The main objective of this undertaking is to help the team members get important lessons on leadership skills wherein the extreme weather and tough trekking requirements are expected to put their skills to real tests of endurance,” he informed.
On the selection of the Dzongri trek amongst the numerous trekking destinations in the world, he explained, “The world renowned Kanchendzonga National Park lies within this trail and also this is one of the most challenging and spectacular trekking trails in the world, while the feeling one will get after accomplishing this feat is simply unmatchable; Sikkim is also one place in the world which is in close proximity with the Himalayas, where else can you view them after a mere four hour drive from the sea level? This is surely amongst the best trekking trails across the globe and there is something about this place which compels me to come here again and again”.
This is his third visit to Sikkim and the Dzongri trek will be his second, while he has also done the Goechala trek when he had organized several adventure courses for IIM Kolkata, from where he passed out with a PGDM in 2004, in West Sikkim. He has also worked as a senior software engineer between 1998 and 2001.
A legend in the making, the man arrived here on 18 April and is a guest of the Black Cat Division here. He was part of the inaugural function of the Water Shed War Memorial at Sherathang where he met with the Chief Minister, Pawan Chamling.
“The Chief Minister has assured us all support towards promoting adventure tourism through trekking and mountaineering here and he has even asked for my expertise in this field which I am more than glad to furnish,” he mentioned.
Mr. Babu also met with the Secretary Tourism who invited him to be part of the International Trekking Expedition to begin 01 May but to which he is unable to commit since he will be part of another expedition in the same area.
“However, I shall return to Sikkim soon and encourage and inform more people to come explore the rich trekking trails and mountains here,” he added.
Among his other achievements is the first Indian Solo & Fastest Ascent of the tallest peak of Western Hemisphere, Mt. Aconcagua (22,841 ft) in 01-08 February 2005 and the fastest Indian Ascent of Mt. Kilimanjaro (19,354 ft), the tallest peak of Africa, in 3.5 days in January 2005.
Last year during 07 June to 25 July, the phenomenal mountaineer also bagged the record for the first ever High Altitude Traverse of ‘4 Dhaams’ spanning trekking and climbing of 900 km, while the following month, on 15 August, he led the first exclusive Indian team to summit the Kilimanjaro, becoming the first Indian to summit the mountain thrice in the process.
Apart from mountain climbing, Mr. Babu is also an avid marathon runner which has earned him more records to his overflowing cup of achievements.
In October 2007, he became the first Indian to run the half marathon of 21.2 km distance in 14 days across 14 states, including Meghalaya, Assam, Manipur, Nagaland, Jharkhand, Bihar, Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Kerela and Andhra Pradesh. The same year in December, he also became the first Indian to run 8 full marathons (42.2 Km) and 3 half marathons in 13 days, spanning 10 Indian states, Jammu & Kashmir, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Uttarakhand, UP, Chattisgarh, W. Bengal, Mizoram and Orissa.
Mr. Babu has been honoured with the Conjee Rustamjee Cohoujee Bey Award for Outstanding Youth of the Year-2006 for his world record of the Fastest Seven Summiteer from Senator John Kerry (2004 US Presidential Candidate) at Disney Concert Hall, Los Angeles. He has also been conferred the title ‘Pride of India’ by Indo American Friendship Council at Dallas Texas, also in 2006, and further felicitated in New York, Silicon Valley, Chicago, Dallas and California by various organizations. He was also conferred the Army Commander’s CommendatiShillong in October 2007.
“For me, life has only just begun after this world record of mine and I am proud to be an Indian. I am hopeful that it will be another Indian who will break this record, if anyone does and I also hope that my feat will inspire and motivate the youth in the country,” he expressed.“This is an original record and is hard to beat but I hope that this record will be broken by another Indian and that my feat would inspire and motivate millions of our youth”, expressed Malli Mastan Babu.