BHOPAL: Age is just a number for 52-year-old Bhopal’s Jyoti Ratre. In the age when people start thinking about retirement, Jyoti completed two important peaks of the world — Mt Elbrus (5,642m) and Mt Kilimanjaro (5,895m). She completed the summit of Mt Kilimanjaro on Independence Day, this year. Smita Ghuge and Yash Ingole from Pune were other members of the team with her.
Her achievement is commendable and inspirational looking to her age as she is 52 years old.
Talking to TOI, Jyoti said, “Mt Everest always fascinates me. Since my childhood I have always wanted to see Mt Everest. However, the aspiration could not be materialised.” A housewife, Jyoti realised that she could also be a mountaineer at the age of 48.
“I got a chance to complete a track in Manali. It was a tough track. After completing the track, I realised that I can also live my dream to scale mountains. From there my journey started.” However, Jyoti had to struggle a lot as she was not given admission to any mountaineering institute due to her age.
“I started my preparation at my own level. I started climbing small mountains. The four year’s preparation has helped me scale two important peaks of the world,” said Jyoti. She wants to scale all 7 highest peaks of the world.
Her husband KK Ratre, who is a General Manager in MPMKVVCL at Bhopal, said that Jyoti is very enthusiastic about whatever work she does and never gives-up. “She stops only after achieving her target,” said Ratre.
He added, “She is not a fulltime mountaineer. She is successfully running a business of School Uniform at Bhopal but due to the closing of schools because of the pandemic, she took her free time as an opportunity to improve her fitness and achieved this remarkable feat.” She is very keen on spreading the message of saving and educating girl child. It is noteworthy to mention that she has an only child as daughter Pranshu who has been awarded PhD in Earth Science from a reputed University of USA and she is doing post-doc research work in Oklahoma University.
