In January, she scaled Aconcagua in Argentina, the best peak within the Americas at 6,961 metres above sea stage. Her earlier expeditions embody Mount Elbrus in Russia, Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, Vinson Massif in Antarctica, and, nearer to dwelling, Everest, Manaslu, Rhenock, and Gori Chen. She now goals to climb Denali in Alaska and Mount Kosciuszko in Australia to finish the Seven Summits.
When not on an expedition, Anvitha trains college students in mountain climbing and mountaineering on the Transcend Academy of Rock Climbing (TRAC) in Bhongir and Gandikota. Established by mountaineer Shekhar Babu in 2012, these academies —run in collaboration with the Telangana and Andhra Pradesh tourism departments — even have mountaineers Poorna Malavath, Anand Kumar Sadhanapalli, and Raghvendra as principal trainers.
Anvitha and Richard had been the 2 who summitted Aconcagua from a crew of 10 | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Bhongir Fort, with its towering 500-foot monolithic rock, is Anvitha’s dwelling turf. Originally from Errambelli, a village close to Bhongir, she found mountain climbing at 17. “My mother and father, Madhusudhan Reddy and Chandrakala, moved to Bhongir for my training as a result of poor bus connectivity from our village. In 2015, we enquired about mountain climbing through the holidays, and I joined a five-day course out of curiosity. Shekhar Babu was my coach,” she remembers.
That coaching had a long-lasting influence past climbing. “My father observed a optimistic change in my focus, time administration, and coordination with individuals,” she provides. Rock climbing opened up new prospects. “We lived on restricted sources. My father was an agriculturist, and my mom taught at an anganwadi college. We couldn’t afford holidays or leisure actions, however climbing gave me one thing new to discover.”
A number of months later, she joined a primary mountaineering course in West Bengal — her first journey exterior Telangana. “I had at all times been match as a result of athletics at school, which helped throughout coaching. I additionally realised that whenever you’re wanting to study, individuals reply positively, regardless of language and cultural boundaries.”
Alongside finishing her B.Com in Bhongir and later an MBA at Andhra Mahila Sabha School of Informatics, Hyderabad, Anvitha honed her trekking, climbing, and mountaineering expertise.
The crew that was a part of an expedition to Aconcagua | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Her coaching paid off in 2021 when she hoisted the Indian flag at Mount Elbrus’s base camp after scaling peaks in Ladakh, Rhenock in Sikkim, and Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. “I educated with precision, progressively acclimatising to greater altitudes and colder circumstances.”
These expeditions fuelled her ardour for main and coaching mountaineering groups. “I discovered troubleshooting, rescuing crew members, packing for expeditions, documenting key learnings, and planning higher.”
Everest and Manaslu had been amongst her most memorable climbs, as was Gori Chen, the place she led a crew of eight TRAC climbers alongside the Indian Army. In January, she was amongst two out of 10 climbers to summit Aconcagua in Argentina.
Reflecting on her decade-long journey, Anvitha highlights the significance of beginning early. “I started climbing early, whereas Poorna began at 12 (Poorna was the youngest feminine to succeed in the summit of the Everest at 13, in 2014). It made us realise that youthful college students have a bonus. Since 2021, our academies have reached out to varsities, conducting 1-, 2-, and 5-day team-building and management classes. So far, we have now educated practically 10,000 college students, and there’s scope to do rather more.”
