By Lamphrang Nongspung
Shillong, June 22: Twenty-year-old NCC cadet from Meghalaya, Rifiness Warjri, has created history by becoming the youngest and third woman from the state to conquer the 8,848.86-meter Mount Everest on May 18 at 4:45 am.
Refiness, who is a B.Sc. Botany student of St. Anthony’s College and a cadet of the 61 Meghalaya Girls Battalion NCC, was accorded a very warm welcome on her arrival at the Umroi Airport on Saturday by the 61 Meghalaya Girls’ Battalion NCC and her family members.
Warjri is the third of five children of Shlurbor Kharmyndai and Diamondsea Warjri. She was the sole representative from the entire Northeastern Region to be selected for the 38-member Mount Everest expedition team.
Before successfully summiting Mount Everest, Warjri had scaled Mount Abi Gamin (7,355 meters) in Uttarakhand in August 2024.
Before Warjri, the three others from the state who had conquered the Mount Everest included a Discovery Channel photographer, Gary Jarman Lamare, who made history as the first Meghalayan to summit the peak in 2012; followed by Wansuk Myrthong, a Constable Meghalaya Police (Armed Branch) in 2013; and Dolyne Kharbhih, a former NCC cadet hailing from Ri Bhoi district, in 2016.
Talking to The Shillong Times on Sunday, Refiness said that her achievement is not only just a personal glory but also has enhanced the pride of the state and her family members.
“Taking the Indian flag to the top of the world was the happiest moment. I am going to cherish this moment forever,” the 20-year-old NCC cadet said, adding she would like to thank God for protecting her during her journey to scale the Mount Everest.
Sharing about her journey, she said that it all started with the selection process at the state level, followed by the selection for the cadets from the whole of the Northeastern Region in Guwahati, and the subsequent selection from among all NCC cadets pooled from across the country, which was held in Delhi.
After the selection in Delhi, she said, that the final phase of the selection started at Mount Abi Gamin.
“We then had to undergo training at Nehru Institute of Mountaineering (NIM) in Uttarakhand and training at Himalayan Mountaineering Institute (HMI) in Darjeeling. After this, we had the last phase of training, which was the winter training at Siachen, which is also known as the world battlefield,” the 20-year-old NCC cadet said.
Refiness said that the training in Siachen was a very tough as it was meant for final selection of the ten NCC cadets who would get an opportunity to climb the Mount Everest.
She revealed that there were around 17 lakh cadets from across the country who had participated in the entire selection process to get the opportunity to summit the Mount Everest.
“I was happy when I found myself among the final ten selected NCC cadets, including five boys and girls. I would admit that it was a very tough selection process,” the 20-year-old NCC cadet said.
Refiness mentioned that they started preparing for the scaling of Mount Everest in March this year.
She said that it started right from the trekking in Kathmandu, Nathu La Pass, and till they reached the Mount Everest base camp.
The 20-year-old NCC cadet also revealed that during her expedition, she saw around four bodies which she had to climb over.
According to her, the first body she saw was near the third camp, adding that in the Mount Everest expeditions usually start from the base camp, followed by camp two, camp three, and camp four, which is the final summit push.
She said that camp four is also known as the death zone since it is at 8,000 feet and above the mean sea level.
“We had to use the oxygen mask to be able to breathe while climbing the Mount Everest. I have seen many of the mountaineers who were facing problems breathing,” Refiness said.
When asked about the time it takes to climb from one camp to another, the 20-year-old NCC cadet said that it depends on the speed that each mountaineer takes to climb from one camp to another.
According to her, people who are able to climb faster will take only five to six hours, while people who are going at a slow pace take around nine hours to climb from one camp to another.
“It normally takes a day to climb from one camp to another. From the camp 4 I started climbing Mt. Everest summit at around 7 pm to 7.30 pm and I managed to reach the summit at 4 am of May 18,” Refiness said.
When asked who her inspiration was, she said it was her parents who inspired her immensely in taking part in the selection for the Mount Everest summit. She remains indebted to her parents for their support and the sacrifices which they have made to enable her to undertake the adventurous journey.
“I would also attribute my success to the NCC for grooming and polishing me into my best version. I would like to thank the NCC for giving me the opportunity to climb Mount Everest,” the 20-year-old NCC cadet who is an athlete of mixed martial arts said.
Further, Refiness said that before this, she had never received any professional training in mountaineering.
“But I was first introduced to mountaineering during my school days in NCC at Auxilium Convent. During the NCC camp in 2019, Miss Dolyne Kharbhih told us about the Mount Everest expedition since she herself had climbed the Mount Everest in 2016,” she said.
The 20-year-old NCC cadet said that she got to learn so much about the Mount Everest expedition from Miss Kharbhih and admitted that following the interaction with her (Kharbhih) that she started developing interest in adventure sports.