Software engineer from India: Seven Summits in record time

Bastan Malli Babu, a software engineer from India, aims to conquer the worlds seven summits in 165 days to break the existing record of 214 days set by Newzealand’s Rob Hall.

Babu claims his inspiration comes from Lt Uday Bhaskar, who ascended Africa’s Kilimanjaro in three and half days and Aconcagua in 10 days. Bhaskar lost his life whilst on a Mount Everest expedition recently.
To claim the world record, Babu will have to scale all the peaks between January and June 2006. He plans to start with the Vinson Massif (4,897 m) in Antarctica and then tackle the remaining peaks in the fllowing order: Aconcagua (6,962 m) in South America, Kilimanjaro (5,895 m) in Africa, Carstensz (2,228 m) in Australia-Oceania, Mount Everest (8,848 m) in Nepal, Elbrus (5,642 m) in Europe and finally Denali (6,194 m) in North America.

Although Babu’s effort was appreciated and encouraged by the Sport Authority of India (SAI), they could not assist him monetarily.

Source: WebIndia123.com

It’s mountains over management
- IIM graduate shuns corporate climb for seven peaks in seven continents DEVADEEP PUROHIT
Malli Mastan Babu would rather climb mountains than the corporate ladder. The 2004 graduate from the Indian Institute of Management did not appear for his campus interviews at Joka, by choice.
For, this IIT Kharagpur-IIM Calcutta boy was aiming higher — mountains over management, passion over profession.
Blue collar could wait as Malli slipped into hiking gear and set out to conquer the seven highest peaks in seven continents, something no Indian has done. “I have already done two summits, Kilimanjaro in Africa and Aconcagua in South America. I think I will be able to stick to my schedule of scaling all seven peaks by November,” announces Malli, armed with the training and the experience of trekking the breadth of the Himalayas.
The remaining mountains on the 31-year-old’s to-climb list are Everest in Asia, Denali in North America, Elbrus in Europe, Vinson Massif in Antarctica and Kusciuszko in Australia. “The cost of the seven climbs works out to $ 110,953. My friends have been a great help, but now I am looking for sponsors,” admits Malli, who visited Joka last week and is off to Mumbai soon to seek the support of his alumni.

Once the peaks have been conquered, the son of a farmer from a remote village in Andhra Pradesh wants to promote adventure sports as a training module for personality development in the corporate sector and in leading B-schools. Malli, who set up the adventure club on the Joka campus, hopes to pitch his adventure tent with Mast Adventures Pvt Ltd in 2006. “I want to roll out my own business by promoting adventure sports for personality development,” says the electrical engineer, management graduate and adventurer.