Mamta Sodha

[1] She was honoured by the Government of India, in 2014, by bestowing on her the Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian award, for her services to the field of mountaineering sport.

[2] Mamta Sodha was born on 1 November 1979,[3] at Kaithal, in the state of Haryana, in India, in a family with poor financial resources, as the eldest of three girls and two boys.

[4][5][6] She lost her father, Laxman Dass Sodha, who worked as an inspector with the Haryana Food and Supplies Department, in 2004,[4][5] and her mother, Mewa Devi,[5] had to support the family with the help of her brothers.

[6] Mamta collected the money by way of contributions from several agencies and individuals such as Haryana state government (₹300,000), PWD Minister, Randeep Singh Surjewala (₹51,000), Kurukshetra member of parliament, Navin Jindal (₹500,000}, District Police Commissioner Amneet P Kumar (₹250,000) and various others[4][6] and the project started in April 2010, with the encouragement of previous Everest climbers Bachendri Pal and Santosh Yadav.

[7] The expedition team consisted of 13 members, of which nine mountaineers were from United States, Denmark, Switzerland and Australia and the remaining four from India, including 16-year-old Arjun Vajpai.

[9] The team was led by the legendary Apa Sherpa, who held the world record of 19 successful climbs of[10] Mount Everest.