India’s Ace Mountaineer Malli Mastan Babu met his end while scaling the Ceros Mountains in Chile. Missing since 24 March, when he was last seen leaving the Base Camp alone hoist the Indian Flag once again in the Andes – his favorite over his last four years.

He excelled in whatever he did – scaled summits…

His ascent started from the Argentina side, and was dropped off at base Camp on 24 March. He was to return the same day, but weather conditions worsened and a heavy rainfall had him stuck atop the Andes. His body was found in his tent by a team of rescuers.

Helicopter team rescue missions from Argentina and Chile inspected the Andes mountains for the missing Indian mountaineer, the government said on Friday.

According to his sister, Dr Malli Dorasanamma, Babu went with his friends to climb the Ceros mountains. He apparently began his ascent from the Argentina side and was dropped off at the base camp on 24th March. “It appears that from the base camp he set off alone. The rain worsened after he left. He was supposed to return on the 24th, but did not. The area gets a lot of rains and floods.”

An announcement on Facebook page ‘Rescue Malli Mastan Babu’ created by his friends and well wishers read “Mountains retained its favourite child.. R.I.P Malli Mastan Babu.”

Malli was known as the fastest ‘7 Summiteer’ in the world. In 2006, he scaled seven summits of the world in 172 days.

Besides being a 2000-2002 IIM Kolkata pass out, he also has a degree from IIT Kharagpur. He hails from Nellore in Andhra region and was the first person from Andhra Pradesh to have scaled Mount Everest.

Source: Economic Times & TOI