Telangana mountaineer Anvitha Padamati scales Aconcagua, sets sights on new peaks

Anvitha Padamati, a 27-year-old mountaineer from Telangana, shares her journey from climbing Aconcagua to training future mountaineers.

“I value the journey as much as the summit. People assume mountaineering is a cakewalk for me, but I always remind them —and myself — that each mountain is different and must be respected,” says Anvitha Padamati, a 27-year-old mountaineer and trainer from Bhongir (Bhuvanagiri), Telangana.

In January, she scaled Aconcagua in Argentina, the highest peak in the Americas at 6,961 metres above sea level. Her previous expeditions include Mount Elbrus in Russia, Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, Vinson Massif in Antarctica, and, closer to home, Everest, Manaslu, Rhenock, and Gori Chen. She now aims to climb Denali in Alaska and Mount Kosciuszko in Australia to complete the Seven Summits.

When not on an expedition, Anvitha trains students in rock climbing and mountaineering at the Transcend Academy of Rock Climbing (TRAC) in Bhongir and Gandikota. Established by mountaineer Shekhar Babu in 2012, these academies —run in collaboration with the Telangana and Andhra Pradesh tourism departments — also have mountaineers Poorna Malavath, Anand Kumar Sadhanapalli, and Raghvendra as principal trainers.

Bhongir Fort, with its towering 500-foot monolithic rock, is Anvitha’s home turf. Originally from Errambelli, a village near Bhongir, she discovered rock climbing at 17. “My parents, Madhusudhan Reddy and Chandrakala, moved to Bhongir for my education due to poor bus connectivity from our village. In 2015, we enquired about rock climbing during the holidays, and I joined a five-day course out of curiosity. Shekhar Babu was my coach,” she recalls.

That training had a lasting impact beyond climbing. “My father noticed a positive change in my focus, time management, and coordination with people,” she adds. Rock climbing opened up new possibilities. “We lived on limited resources. My father was an agriculturist, and my mother taught at an anganwadi school. We couldn’t afford holidays or leisure activities, but climbing gave me something new to explore.”

A few months later, she joined a basic mountaineering course in West Bengal — her first trip outside Telangana. “I had always been fit due to athletics in school, which helped during training. I also realised that when you’re eager to learn, people respond positively, despite language and cultural barriers.”

Alongside completing her B.Com in Bhongir and later an MBA at Andhra Mahila Sabha School of Informatics, Hyderabad, Anvitha honed her trekking, climbing, and mountaineering skills.