Malli Mastan Babu

Mastan Babu Malli (3 September 1974 – 24 March 2015) was an Indian mountaineer. He previously held the 2006 world record of climbing the Seven Summits in 172 days, starting on 19 January 2006 and finishing on the seventh summit on 10 July 2006. This made him the first Indian and South Asian to climb all seven summits, the first Indian to climb the Vinson Massif, and the first Indian to climb the Puncak Jaya, also known as the Carstensz Pyramid.

Mastan Babu died on 24 March 2015 in the Andes mountains after summiting Tres Cruces Sur.

Mastan was born on 3 September 1974 in Gandhi Janasangam village, Sangam Mandal, Nellore district, Andhra Pradesh, to Malli Mastanayya and Subbamma. He was the fifth child in the Malli family. He was amongst the first in his family to receive formal education.^[1] He studied at Sainik School, Korukonda, in Vijayanagaram district, Andhra Pradesh, from 1985 to 1992. After completing his B. E. in Electrical engineering from National Institute of Technology, Jamshedpur in 1996, Malli went on to earn an M.Tech. in Electronics from Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur in 1998.

After a three-year stint as a software engineer with Satyam Computers, Malli was selected for the two-year Post Graduate Diploma in Management (PGDM) program at Indian Institute of Management Calcutta, from which he graduated in 2004.^[2] He was reportedly inspired to take up mountaineering by his school's statue of Lt. M.Uday Bhaskar Rao, a former student who lost his life during the Indian Army's Everest expedition of 1985.^[3] In IIM Kolkata, Malli received the Dr. B.C. Roy Award for his contributions to campus life.

Malli's efforts to improve the fitness levels of his fellow-students and to institutionalize adventure activities led to the founding of IIM-C's Adventure Club in 2003. The club continues to organize numerous events both on and off campus.^[4]

Malli received the annual Distinguished Alumnus Award presented by the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta in November 2011.^[5][6] He also received the Army Commander's Commendation in 2007 and the 2006 Conjee Rustumjee Cohoujee Bey Award given by the Friends of South Asian American Communities in California (FOSACC) for youth contribution.^[7][8]

After completing climbing Mount Everest, he moved towards Mt. Kailash, but he did not ascend it due to its religious significance. Malli paid tributes to his hero, Lt. Uday Bhaskar Rao^[9] and planted his school flag during his Everest trips. Many of his expeditions were unguided, yet planned.^[5][10]

In June and July 2007, he made a high-altitude trek through the four major Hindu Dhams of Uttarakhand. Between 21 October and 3 November of the same year, he planned to run 14 half marathons in 14 days in 14 different states. He ran 8 full marathons and 3 half marathons in 13 days, spanning 10 Indian states in 2007.^[10]

In 2008, he completed a 75-day high altitude trek from the Mount Everest region to Kanchenjunga, climbing all the high passes between them, covering a total of approximately 1,100 km of the Himalayan terrain.^[8] With his 2,000 kilometer, 132-day trans-Himalayan expedition from Mount Everest to Mount Kailash, Malli wanted to raise awareness about glaciers in the Himalayas melting due to climate change.^[11]

South America, and especially its peaks, were a source of fascination for Malli, who travelled there often after first summiting Mt. Aconcagua in 2005.^[12]

In 2006, he completed the Seven Summits, the highest peak in each of the seven continents, in a span 172 days. At the time, this was also a world record. He climbed each summit on a different day of the week.

After climbing Mt. Aconcagua in 2005, Malli visited South America a number of times.

Malli decided to climb Tres Cruces Sur summit (6,749 m) of Nevado Tres Cruces on 23 March 2015 before heading back for India on 28 March 2015. Weather deteriorated when he was descending after the summit of Tres Cruces.

Malli went missing on 24 March 2015 and died outside his pitched tent on the slopes of Cerro Tres Cruces Sur in the Andes.^[13] Malli, who was climbing solo, was caught in extreme weather, which led to the 2015 Northern Chile floods and mudflow in the Andes. With all access routes to the mountain being cut, it took close to 10 days for the rescue teams to reach him. His body was found on 3 April 2015.^[14] He was supposed to have returned to India by month-end after adding the last of the ten highest peaks in the Andes to his list of conquests.^[15][16][17]

Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid homage to Malli.^[18] The Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh N. Chandrababu Naidu condoled his death.^[19]

• List of Indian summiters of Mount Everest
• List of Mount Everest summiters by frequency
• List of Mount Everest records of India
• List of Mount Everest records