‘Everest Lady of Odisha’ Kalpana Das Dies During Expedition to Mount Everest

Bhubaneswar: In a shocking incident, the Everest woman of Odisha, Kalpana Das, the first civilian who successfully climbed World’s highest mountain peak Mt Everest passed away during her another expedition to the top mountain again.

The soft spoken 49-year-old climber from Dhenkanal district has died above the balcony area on Mt Everest on Thursday afternoon.

Das, who was a member of the ‘Three Women Expedition’ locally managed by Dreamers Destination Treks, breathed her last near the balcony area while descending from the summit point, informed Meera Acharya, Director at the Department of Tourism.

Kalpana along with Kanchhi Maya Tamang from Nepal and Liyamu Ma from China made it to the summit of Mt Everest at around 12:55 pm. “Das, who fell ill on the descent died near the balcony area,” Acharya quoted base camp officials as saying.

She had already climbed different peaks in India, Nepal, Europe, South America and Australia. “Being a team leader of the Indian expedition, Das had scaled Mt Everest from Nepal side in 2008,” a record at the DoT shows.