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for the training. I had to write a letter of apology to my father without
whose permission I had got myself enrolled at Uttarkashi.”

No looking back: to progress without interruption or impediment
Enrolled: took admission into
Headed straight for: went towards

Since then, Santosh progressed gradually to become an accomplished
mountaineer. She saved money to get enrolled in a mountaineering
course at the Nehru Institute of Mountaineering at Uttarkashi. As her
college semester’s end got delayed and she did not have time to visit
home before reporting at the Nehru Institute of Mountaineering, she
went directly to the institute and wrote a letter of apology to her father
because she had enrolled for the course without his permission.

Thereafter, Santosh went on an expedition
every year. Her climbing skills matured rapidly.
Also, she developed a remarkable resistance

to cold and the altitude. Equipped with an iron
will, physical endurance and an amazing
mental toughness, she proved herself
repeatedly. The culmination of her hard work
and sincerity came in 1992, just four years
after she had shyly asked the Aravalli
mountaineers if she could join them. At barely

twenty years of age, Santosh Yadav scaled Mt
Everest, becoming the youngest woman in the
world to achieve the feat. If her climbing skills, physical fitness, and
mental strength impressed her seniors, her concern for others and
desire to work together with them found her a special place in the hearts

of fellow climbers. During the 1992 Everest mission, Santosh Yadav
provided special care to a climber who lay dying at the South Col. She
was unfortunately unsuccessful in saving him. However, she managed
to save another climber, Mohan Singh, who would have met with the
same fate had she not shared her oxygen with him.

Matured: developed
Resistance: the ability not to be affected by something
Equipped: supplied with
Physical endurance: strength

Culmination: end
Scaled: climbed