The achievement
On 27 May 2025, Vishwanath Karthikey Padakanti of Hyderabad stood on Mt Everest and completed the Seven Summits — the highest peak on every continent: Everest in Asia, Aconcagua in South America, Denali in North America, Elbrus in Europe, Kilimanjaro in Africa, Vinson in Antarctica and Kosciuszko in Australia. The India Book of Records recognises him as the youngest Indian to complete the challenge; his team also describes him as the second youngest in the world.
In December 2025 he received the Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar in the Sports category.
How it began
His first step onto a glacier came at age 11, on a 2020 trek toward Mt Rudugaira in Uttarakhand; altitude sickness stopped that climb, but it started something bigger — training at the Nehru Institute of Mountaineering and a five-year goal. His first summit was Mt Elbrus on 15 August 2022, after an earlier attempt had turned back.
Then came Denali in June 2024, Vinson in Antarctica in December 2024 and Aconcagua on 22 January 2025, along with Kilimanjaro and Kosciuszko, whose dates the reports we could open do not give.
Vishwanath’s first big climb ended in failure — and became the start of everything. Which setback of yours might secretly be a beginning? That is a question from us, not part of his record.
SOURCES
- Global Indian · 8 October 2025 ↗ · Interview-based feature report
- India Book of Records · profile ↗ · Record profile
