Anmish Varma Bhupati Raju (28) from Visakhapatnam is literally at the top of the world after realizing his childhood dream of climbing the mountain. Everest – an achievement that he accomplished on June 1st (Tuesday).
His 50-day expedition to climb Mt. Everest began after reaching Kathmandu in Nepal in the first week of April. Over the next few weeks, Mr. Anmish and his team walked up and down the mountain slopes several times to acclimate to the extremely hypoxic (low-oxygen) environment at high altitudes.
“We reached base camp on April 19th. The adverse weather conditions of snow, wind and avalanches forced us to stay in camp 2 (at an altitude of 6,400 m) for six days. Some of the climbers returned because they didn’t want to take any chances because of the bad weather. My Sherpa guide and I started from the last camp (8,000 m) on May 31st around 7:00 pm and reached the summit of Mt. Everest (8,848.86 m) at 5:00 am on June 1st, ”said Mr. Anmish, who is on the way back to base camp in Nepal The Hindu when contacted via his mobile phone on the afternoon of June 4th.
Mr. Anmish is very interested in martial arts and trained in karate when he was 10 years old. He completed his education, his studies and his PG (MBA) in the city. “I’ve loved climbing hills and hills around the city since I was a kid. My training in martial arts ensured a high level of fitness and was looking for new challenges. Mountaineering was an obvious choice, and in addition to the winter training program in Ladakh, where temperatures drop to -40 degrees Celsius, I have taken mountaineering courses for beginners and advanced at some of the best institutes in India, ”he said.
He continued to climb the mountain. Kilimanjaro (5,895 m), the highest peak in Africa, and Mt. Aconcagua (6,961 m), the highest in South America; both in 2020 shortly before the lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Mr. Anmish commended the Adventure Sports Academy in Gandikota, Kadapa District for helping him with this achievement.
Mr. Anmish founded an NGO called Kalpavruksh in 2010 through which he trained girls and women in self-defense through a lakh. “I used to go to schools, colleges and even some software companies in the city of Visakhapatnam and offer women and girls free karate training,” he recalls.
He is also a two-time champion of the World Kickboxing and Karate Union (WKU) Championships and won two gold medals in a row at the WKU tournaments in Greece (2018) and Austria (2019).