4/5/2015 MountaineerMastanBabufounddead

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Apr052015:TheTimesofIndia(Delhi)

MountaineerMastanBabufounddeadAvijitGhosh&SachinParashar

NewDelhiTNN

Malli Mastan Babu, one of India's top mountaineers whograbbed theglobal spotlightbyclimbing thesevensummits inthe seven continents in record time, was found dead in theAndesonFriday.Hewas40.

TheIIMCalumnuswastryingtoscaleCerroTresCrucesSur(6,749m), Chile's second highest peak, and was missing sinceMarch24.Babu'sbodywasspottedaround4.40pmlocaltimeonFriday.OneofIndia'stopmountaineersMalliMastanBabu,whowasfounddeadinhistentintheAndes,hadbeenmissingsinceMarch24aftertheweatherturneduglyinChile.

Babu's friend Satyam Bheemarasetti told Times Now onSaturdaythatthebodywaslocatedbyfellowmountaineersinatent without life, surrounded by snow. From what we haveheard and seen in photos, the tent was blown open anddestroyed, says Apoorva Prasad, founder of `The OutdoorJournal',anactiveadventuremagazine,whichhadbeentrackingBabu'sdisappearance.

Hewasalmostthere.It'sasadloss,India'sambassadortoArgentinaAmarendraKhatuatoldTOI.Babu'sbodywillbroughtonaspecialflighttoIndiaandhewillbeaccordedastatefuneralinhisnativevillageinNellore,AndhraPradesh.

I had sent him a Facebook postwishing himHappyUgadi(NewYear)onMarch21.Hewishedmeback.Thatwasourlastinteraction,hissisterMalliDorasanammatoldTOIoverphone.Babu, also an M Tech in electronics from IIT Kharagpur, wasborninNellorebutstayedwithhissister,adoctor,inTirupati.

In 2006, Babu became the fastest 7 summiteer in theworldbyclimbingthepeaksAconcagua(SouthAmerica),Denali(North America), Elbrus (Europe), Kilimanjaro (Africa), MtEverest (Asia), Vinson Massif (Antarctica) and Kosciuszko &

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4/5/2015 MountaineerMastanBabufounddead

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Carstenz(Australia&Oceania)betweenJanuary19andJuly10inarecord172days.

Challenge is what enthrals me and free spirit is what Iexhibit. Never give up, never give in is a phrase that worksmiracles for me, Babu wrote on his website, 1stindian7summits.com.

Solo climbing is fraught with extra danger if the weatherturns bad.Babu was an enterprising spirit and climbed manypeaks in unusual countries, something Indians normally don'tdo,saysfellowmountaineerandexplorerMandipSinghSoin.Inthat sense, Babu was a trailblazer who didn't get as muchacclaimandattentionashedeserved.

Of late, Babu was scaling peaks in Latin America. He hadclimbed the tough Aconcagua (6,292m) thrice from theArgentiniansideHuascaran(6,768m)inPeruSajama(6,542m)inBoliviaChimborazo(6,310m)inEcuadorandOjosdeSalado(6,800m) inChile, former envoy toArgentina,RVishwanathanbloggedlastweek.

A report in`TheOutdoor Journal's'website, saysBabuhadleftforthemountainswithfriendsonMarch22.HeleftthebasecampalonetoclimbCerroTresCrucesSur,whichbordersChileandArgentina, fromtheArgentinianside.The last contactwasonMarch24whenhetoldfriendsthathewouldcomedownthesameeveningastheweatherhadturnedfoul.

Efforts weremade to rescue him from both sides with theIndianembassiesinChileandArgentinainvolvedintheprocess.The local Chilean government was preoccupied with the flashfloods that had rocked the region. ByMarch 26, rescue teamswereout,accordingtoBabu'sfriendHernanAugustoParajon,aChilean mountaineer who had accompanied him to the basecamp.OnMarch29,Hernansaida teamof810mountaineerswere trying to locate him.But the aerial searchbeganonly onMarch31.

Babucamefromamodestfamilyofagriculturists.HissistersayshegotseriouslyinterestedinmountaineeringatIIMwherehebecamethefounderofanadventureclub.Heraisedmoneyfor his trips delivering motivational talks and conductingadventurecamps,saysDorasanamma.

Viswanathan narrates an interesting anecdote. When Babuwent to climb the Cristobal Colon peak in the Sierra Nevadamountain range of Colombia, the local Indians wouldn't allowhimtogoup.Theyconsiderthemountainsacredandwouldnotletoutsidersclimbit.ButBabudidn'tgiveup.Hetoldthemthat

4/5/2015 MountaineerMastanBabufounddead

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heisalsoanIndianandthatthepeoplefromIndiatooworshipmanymountaingods.ThismadetheColombianIndiansrelent,hewrites.

HealsoexplainswhyBabupreferredtogosolo.Babutoldhim he likes the privacy of his oneto one dialogue with thesummitsandtreasuresthisintimateconversation.

Asked how he overcame the language problem in SouthAmerica, Babu had smiled and said, Mountains all over theworldspeakthesamelanguage.

Now,ashisfriendswhohadstartedaFacebookpage,RescueMalli Mastan Babu, posted after the news of his death camethrough, Mountains (have) retained its favourite child...RIPMastanBabu.

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