Anshu Jamsenpa

Anshu Jamsenpa is a mountaineer from Bomdila, a remote town near the India–China border, and the first woman to climb Mount Everest twice in a single season. She was named for the Padma Shri in 2021 in the field of sports, from Arunachal Pradesh ^[1].

From Bomdila

Jamsenpa was born on 12 December 1979 and belongs to the Buddhist Monpa community ^[2]. In January 2018 Arunachal University of Studies in Namsai awarded her a PhD in adventure sports and tourism ^[2].

Two summits in five days

She holds two world records: the fastest woman to reach the top of Everest twice within five days, and the first woman to make a double ascent of the mountain ^[2]. That expedition was flagged off by the Dalai Lama in Guwahati on 2 April 2017 and welcomed back by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi on 5 June 2017 ^[2].

She is the only Indian woman to have stood on Everest’s summit five times, and has 15 successful peak climbs in all ^[2]. She also climbed three Himalayan peaks, Lobuche, Pokhalde and Island Peak, in just six days, and led an all-India women’s team to Gorichen East and an unnamed, unclimbed peak in the Arunachal Himalayas ^[2]. Her feats are recorded in both the Guinness and Limca record books, the only such entry for a mountaineer from her state ^[2].

Training others

Over a decade she has trained more than 3,000 young people and students in mountaineering, adventure sports and leadership, along with members of climbing clubs, the Army and paramilitary forces ^[2]. In January 2018 she spoke at Rashtrapati Bhavan to a gathering of 100 leading women achievers ^[2].

She played the female lead in the feature film Crossing Bridges, which won a National Film Award, and in 2017 won the best rally driver trophy on a 2,100 km Indo-Bhutan friendship car rally ^[2]. She received the Tenzing Norgay National Adventure Award from the President of India, and has been a brand ambassador for the Ministry of Women and Child Development and for the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan ^[2].