Mamta Sodha

Mamta Sodha is an Indian sportsperson from Kaithal in Haryana who reached the summit of Mount Everest on 22 May 2010 as part of a thirteen-member expedition led by Apa Sherpa, climbing the traditional South Col route from Nepal. She trained at the Nehru Institute of Mountaineering in Uttarakhand and climbed several smaller Himalayan peaks beforehand, including Island Peak in April 2010, and in 2012 she climbed Mount Elbrus, the highest peak in Europe. Before mountaineering she also played handball, and in December 1998 she was on the Kurukshetra University team that won the All India Inter-University tournament. After Everest she joined the Haryana Police, where she serves as a Deputy Superintendent. The Government of India gave her the Tenzing Norgay National Adventure Award in 2010 and the Padma Shri in 2014 for her services to mountaineering.