For the record, Malli Mastan Babu is India’s first MBA to climb the highest peak in the world.

Malli achieved the feat with four other climbers (from US, UK, France and Holland) last Sunday at 7:03 am. He is now resting at the Everest Base Camp with his team, ‘Summit Climb’. It is from here that the team radioed the information of its success to an agency called Everest News.

“We could hear a faint — ‘it was tough, but we’ve made it’ — from Malli. The message has been mailed to all of his well wishers,” said Satyam Bheemarasetti, Malli’s spokesperson.

Malli’s team — led by Arnold Coster — climbed the peak from its South Face, which is considered one of the toughest and has claimed eight lives this year alone.

With Everest conquered, Malli is well set to achieve his dream of climbing the seven highest peaks of the world in 170 days. He intends to smash the Guinness Book record of 187 days held by a New Zealander. Malli has already summited five peaks —
Everest (29,028 ft), Vinson Massif (16,023 ft, Antarctica), Mt Aconcagua (22,834 ft,
South America), Kilimanjaro (19,340 feet, Africa), Mount Kosciuszko (7,310 ft, Australia). The two remaining peaks are Mount Denali (20,320 ft, North America) and Mount Elbrus (18,150 feet, Europe).

Malli’s friend Sumit Kulkarni, first year student of IIM-C, revealed that the climber MBA had studied at Sainik School at Korukonda where he came in contact with army mountaineers. “Adventure and mountaineering come naturally to him and he tried to inculcate the spirit among IIM-C students. He established the IIM-C Adventure Club,” Sumit said.

“We are sure that the remaining two peaks would also be smooth sailing for him. He has made the entire IIM-C community proud,” said an overwhelmed Anindo Sen, IIM-C’s Dean of programme initiatives. “Malli got an electronics engineering degree from IIT- Kharagpur after which he joined IIM-C. His had a brilliant academic career and could have easily landed himself a cushy corporate job, but he chucked all this for something so different! I am happy that finally someone had the courage to break tradition and set an example for all of us,” said Asish Bhattacharyya, senior faculty member and chairperson of admissions at the institute.