The Mt Menthosa team. Telegraph picture

New Delhi, July 21: Eleven women from across the country yesterday returned to New Delhi after a 17-day expedition to conquer the 6,443-metre high Mount Menthosa in Himachal Pradesh.

Led by Tine Mena, the first woman from the Northeast to successfully summit Mount Everest in 2011, seven of the 11 members successfully completed the summit.

The women mountaineers began their climb to the top of the mountain from the summit camp at 5,699.76 metres at 1.30am on July 11 and the first of the three teams reached the summit nearly 10 hours later at 11.12am. The next two teams successfully climbed the mountain at 11.30am and 12.03pm.

Although the mountaineers did not carry medical supplies and communication tools, all eleven members returned safely to the base camp a day later on July 12, making the six-day base camp to base camp climb and descent the quickest expedition in Indian mountaineering history. Considering the technical nature of the climb, Mena said it was “by God’s grace that all the members returned safely.”

Leaving for the journey on June 28, the expedition was originally intended to last till July 28.

Organised by the Indian Mountaineering Foundation, besides Mena, the team consisted of deputy team leader Shanti Rai from Sikkim, G.R. Radhika from Telangana, Muri Linggi from Arunachal Pradesh, Stanzin Youthog from Jammu & Kashmir, Amla Rawat from Uttarakhand, Gunbala Jodhana from Karnataka, Pooja Jangam from Maharashtra, Anushree from Delhi, Indu Bala from Haryana and Rinchen Dolma from Himachal Pradesh. Mena, Jangam, Rawat and Anushree did not complete the climb to the summit.