TS boy conquers Australia's Mt Kosciuszko after Mt Everest

Hyderabad: S Anand Kumar, who in 2014 became the first Dalit boy to scale Mount Everest, did it once again. The final year degree student in Hyderabad’s Nizam College conquered Mount Kosciuszko, the highest mountain in Australia, on Wednesday. He had scaled Everest with Malavath Poorna, who was the youngest girl to scale the world’s highest peak.

After three days of the expedition, which began on Monday, Anand, along with six other Telugus, scaled the 2,228-m Mount Kosciuszko and unfurled the Tricolour atop it. Anand, who comes from a poor family in Khammam district, has his mind on scaling all the seven highest peaks across seven continents with sheer determination and hard work.

Speaking to Telangana Today over phone from Australia, he said his parents asked him as to why he wanted to conquer Kosciuszko when he already scaled the world’s highest peak. “I told them that when I could climb Everest, I could easily scale this one too. I made them agree to my plan of scaling all the seven highest peaks in the world,” he said, adding that it took three days for the team to scale Mount Kosciuszko.

He will now head to South America to scale Mount Aconcagua — the highest mountain outside Asia — he said. Anand, who is passionate about mountaineering, said apart from dreaming of scaling mountains, his dream was to become an IPS officer.