Silchar, June 16: Lalrintluangi, the first woman from Mizoram to scale Mount Everest, returned home to Aizawl today and was given a rousing reception.

The members of Zotrek Youth Adventure Club and her friends and relatives welcomed Lalrintluangi with garlands and bouquets at Lengpui airport this morning. She is the second person from Mizoram to reach the milestone after David Zohmangaiha, who scaled the world's highest peak in 2013.

The state sports and youth services department held a programme at Vanapa Hall this afternoon to felicitate the young mountaineer, who was a part of the NCC girl cadets' expedition team.

Mizoram sports minister Zodintluanga graced the felicitation function as the chief guest and lauded the efforts of Lalrintluangi, a student of Class XII in KM Higher Secondary School in Aizawl. The minister assured all help to her for continuing her training. He said Lalrintluangi's success would now encourage many other young girls to work hard to pursue their dreams.

Expressing extreme happiness, Lalrintluangi, daughter of Lalbiaknipuia and B. Lalzirthangi, said she, along with other team members, summited Mt Everest on May 21. "It was a wonderful experience to be able to reach the top of Mt Everest after a lot of hard work and training. It was a great moment and I felt that my dream had come true," she said.

This was the first ever NCC girl cadets' expedition that successfully scaled the highest peak of the world. The team was divided into two groups - the first reached the summit on May 21 and the second on May 22.

Selection of officers and staff for this mission was carried out from January to June 2014 and altogether 100 cadets were selected from different parts of India. The selected cadets then underwent a special course at Himalayan Mountaineering Institute (HMI), Darjeeling. Pre-Everest expedition to Mt Deo-Tibba (19,688ft), near Manali in Himachal Pradesh, was conducted for 40 cadets in April-May 2015. Based on their performance, only 15 cadets were selected for the next phase.

In August 2015, the team set off on the second pre-Everest expedition to Mt Trishul (23,360ft) and finally 10 cadets were selected.

All the 10 cadets did a monthlong intensive winter training on Siachen glacier at the army's Siachen Battle School before setting course for Nepal.

Lalrintluangi, a resident of Dawrpui Vengthar in Aizawl, was also felicitated today by her neighbours.

She joined the 1st battalion Mizo NCC in 2013 and began preparing to climb the mountain.

Union defence minister Manohar Parrikar and army chief Gen. Dalbir Singh had felicitated the members of her team last week.

Mountaineering expedition as an adventure activity was introduced by NCC in 1970. Since then, NCC conducts two mountaineering expeditions every year, one each for boy and girl cadets.