Woman mountaineer to scale all summits across continents

The 46-year-old Agarwal was the lone Indian among the 10-member team, mostly from Norway, who set out for the journey on August 5 and reached the summit in the morning on August 12.

Appreciating the Russian team leader Sasha Lebedev for reposing faith in the team, Agarwal told reporters here that seven of the ten member team reached the summit despite unfavourable weather conditions including continuous snowfall and strong chilly winds.

"We could spent only 10 to 15 minutes at the peak due to bad weather, which continued till we returned to the base camp following 12 hrs trekking," Agarwal said adding that Mt Elbrus lies on the geographical dividing line between Europe and Asia.

Mt Elbrus is perpetually snow-covered with an icecap and 22 glaciers with three major rivers Baksan, Malka and Kuban arising from the glaciers.

Undeterred by her unsuccessful attempt to climb Mt McKinley, renamed as Mt Denali, in North America due to rough weather condition in April-May, Agarwal, who had already scaled Mt Everest, Mt Kilimanjaro in Africa and Mt Aconcagua in Mendoza, said she is determined to scale the remaining three peaks. (MORE)