Nothing deters this young mountaineer. Not even a close encounter with death

This article is sponsored by Mountain Dew.

For some, it’s a dream. For others, it’s a great idea. But for a select few, it’s a thriving passion: Climbing and conquering the toughest, tallest, steepest mountains are a living reality for these chosen few.

The thrill of climbing these majestic peaks comes with the risk of falling into an abyss or getting buried alive in an avalanche after having braved the dangers of high altitude, relative isolation and unpredictable, harsh weather. At an altitude of 8,000m, mental acuity drops to 30 per cent of normal levels and one must learn to survive with just 30% of oxygen compared to what is available at sea level. To say the risks are immense and daunting would be an understatement. But as they say: no risk, no reward. After all, Naam bante hain risk se.

Countless hours of effort and training, defying life-threatening risks, are no promise of success. Sometimes, you encounter failure just 100 meters short of reaching the summit. And there’s no guarantee it won’t happen again. What do you do when that happens?

There’s probably nobody better to answer that than Arjun Vajpai, who became the third youngest climber to summit Mt. Everest in 2010 and a year later became the youngest climber ever to summit Mt. Lhotse. But with those successes came failure – Mount Makalu has been stubborn about not letting Arjun succeed. Not surprising, given that it has a higher fatality rate than even Mt Everest! Three times Arjun has tried and failed, once barely escaping certain death. It would be enough for anyone to call it quits and move on. Not Arjun.

Watch the story of Arjun Vajpai, the unstoppable young man who has defied all odds, his love story with Mt Makalu and what he plans to do next.