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Bachendri Pal: India's first woman mountaineer to reach Mount Everest

Bachendri Pal, an Indian mountaineer, was born on 24 May 1954. In 1984, she became the first Indian woman to reach the summit of Mount Everest. She was awarded the third-highest civilian award- Padma Bhushan by the Government of India in 2019. She was born only five days prior to the first anniversary of the original ascension of Mount Everest by Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary. She started mountaineering at the age of 12 when she scaled a 13,123 ft high peak during a school picnic.