Premlata Agarwal

Jamshedpur, May 14: Down, but certainly not out.

Heavy rainfall and gusty winds have halted the progress of city-based mountaineer Premlata Agarwal to reach the Everest summit.

The 45-year-old resident of Jugsalai, who is in the international Everest expedition organised by the Asian Trekking Agency in Kathmandu, is back to the base camp, from where she started and came within 3,000ft of conquering the peak.

The expedition team had to abandon the scheduled plan of reaching the summit after the weather made their stay perilous at over 26,000ft, ahead of camp 4, on May 12. The trek to the summit had started on May 9 with the team moving through camp 3.

Suddenly, the weather took a turn for the worse, forcing expedition leader Dawa Stephen Sherpa to order immediate descent. Sherpa, who is continuously monitoring the weather, had tentatively marked May 13 as the day of the summit climb.

Premlata went from 18,000ft to 22,000ft on May 9. After a day’s rest, she went further up to 23,000ft on May 11. Finally, she reached 26,000ft and rested the entire afternoon on Thursday.

“We have asked for a status report on Premlata from the Kathmandu-based Asian Trekking Agency, which is monitoring the progress of the team,” said P.P. Kapadia, secretary of Tata Steel Adventure Foundation (TSAF).

As per plans, Premlata was scheduled to scale the summit yesterday but is now at the base camp at 18,000ft.

“Oxygen is extremely low at such heights, but the weather stopped the team’s progress,” Kapadia said. The team would set off again once the conditions improved, he added.

Premlata, a mother of two grown-up daughters, had reached the second Everest base camp at 23,000ft after crossing Khumbu Ice Fall or the Death Zone without much difficulty. The trek towards the summit was unfolding according to expectations, before the weather played spoilsport.

The team is waiting for the weather to improve, which might take days, at camp 4.

Meanwhile, the procession of people and climbers up and down the mountain is continuing, as fresh climbers — armed with oxygen kits and provisions — head for camps high up, walking past exhausted mountaineers making their way back.

However, yesterday’s forecasts indicated poor weather conditions at the summit.