Manita Pradhan had never danced on a mountain before. At 42, the mountaineer from West Sikkim is no stranger to tough expeditions, from the Himalayas to global giants like Mt Everest and Elbrus in Russia. Yet amid those triumphs, she never quite found the headspace for a jig.
Until last year. At Antarctica’s Mount Vinson Massif summit camp, situated around 12,500 ft above sea level, surrounded by wind-carved sastrugi, Pradhan finally grooved to a Nepali song. On Dec 12, she summited Vinson Massif — the continent’s highest peak — becoming the first person from her state to do so.
