Gujarat surgeons become India's first doctor couple to scale Mount Everest

Dr Hemant Lalitchandra Leuva and his wife Dr Surbhiben Hemant Leuva stood atop Mount Everest at around 8:30 am on Friday, becoming the first Indian doctor couple to climb the world's highest peak.

File Photo (Reuters)

Kathmandu: A surgeon couple from Gujarat scripted history on Friday by becoming the first Indian doctor couple to climb Mount Everest, while another Indian climber conquered the world's fourth-highest peak without using supplemental oxygen, Nepal's media reported on Saturday. Dr Hemant Lalitchandra Leuva and his wife Dr Surbhiben Hemant Leuva stood atop the 8,849-meter (29,032-foot) summit at around 8:30 am on Friday, becoming the first Indian doctor couple to climb the world's highest peak, said Rishi Bhandari, Managing Director at Satori Adventure. Hemant is a professor of surgery at NHL Municipal Medical College and his wife works as chief medical officer with Gujarat Vidyapith. The couple, serving at different health facilities in Ahmedabad, made it to the top of Mt Everest with the message of saving the environment, The Himalayan Times reported.

Skalzang Rigzin, a climber from Ladakh, made it to the top of Mt Lhotse (8,516m) on Friday morning, according to Babu Sherpa, Managing Director at Peak Promotion Pvt Ltd, the newspaper said in a separate report. Rigzin, 41, is the first Indian climber to have reached Mt Annapurna without using supplemental oxygen. He climbed Mt Annapurna on April 28. "Rigzin completed his second 8000er in 16 days without using bottled oxygen support," Sherpa said.

Baljeet Kaur, a 27-year-old Indian woman climber from Himachal Pradesh, set a record for conquering two mountain peaks in Nepal above 8,000 metres within two weeks on Thursday.

Kaur scaled Mt. Kanchenjunga (8,586m) on Thursday morning at 4:20 (local time). She had climbed Mt. Annapurna I (8,091m) on April 28.

Last week, Priyanka Mohite from Maharashtra became the first Indian woman to have scaled five peaks, all above 8,000 metres.

Hundreds of foreign climbers and Sherpa guides will attempt to climb Mt. Everest in May when weather conditions in the Himalayan peaks are most favourable for climbing.