Peak performance

Fifty-two years after men first conquered Mt Everest, two Iranian women became the first Muslim women to scale the peak. Sudeshna Sarkar spoke to them in Kathmandu

When Laleh Keshavarz got married in December 2004, her way of celebrating the happiness of having arrived at this new milestone in her life was to mark out another milestone for herself.

Flood of entries

It was perhaps to set this imbalance right that the IMF's invitation to women climbers attracted a barrage of applications.

There were 69 women applicants, of whom 14 were shortlisted after weeks of gruelling fitness tests on the slopes of mountains in Iran. More tests and interviews later, the number
of shortlisted candidates was whittled down to 7.

Sadegh, who has four sisters and has been an avid climber for over a decade, was selected to lead the team.