Baljeet Kaur is thrilled to receive the Tenzing Norgay National Adventure Award, the country’s highest honour for achievements in adventure sports. President Droupadi Murmu conferred the award on her on Friday. Yet, something is tugging at the heart of the Solan-based mountaineer. The indifference towards her achievement in her home state of Himachal Pradesh has added a tinge of sadness to one of the biggest days of her life.“There has not been a single message or congratulatory call from the government or any individual. That’s a little discouraging,” said Baljeet.The mountaineer says this indifference towards mountaineering is not limited to a lack of acknowledgement or appreciation of her achievements.“There is hardly any support for mountaineering in the state. Maybe that is the reason why the best-known mountaineers come from other states, not Himachal,” she says.Despite her disappointment and the lack of support, Baljeet is among the best-known mountaineers in the country, let alone the state. Apart from scaling Mount Everest twice, she is the first Indian woman to summit Mount Everest and Mount Lhotse within a gap of just 25 hours and 20 minutes. Besides, she has climbed five mountains above 8,000 metres in just 30 days, becoming the first Indian to achieve this remarkable feat.“Climbing five peaks above 8,000 metres in 30 days is extremely challenging. I think only a handful of mountaineers across the world have done it. Normally, it takes over a month to summit a mountain above 8,000 metres,” said Baljeet, putting her achievement in perspective.Her toughest challenge, however, remains the summit of Mount Annapurna in 2023. The steep and lengthy final ascent of 1,200 metres, lack of facilities and rapidly changing weather make the mountain extremely difficult to conquer.Baljeet did summit the mountain but went missing while descending. She was stranded alone at an altitude of over 7,000 metres for several hours and was rescued just in time. It was a near-death experience for her. Yet, the harrowing experience instilled no fear in her. She remains as passionate about mountaineering as ever.“It did not instil any fear in me. I have climbed many mountains, including Mount Everest, since that incident. If anything, the incident made me more aware of the conditions and helped me trust my own judgement more,” she said.She concedes that it was difficult to convince her family to let her return to the mountains, but she eventually managed to do so.“I told them death could come anywhere, but if I stopped doing what I love, I would lose my spark and energy. It would be a life not worth living for me,” she says.When Baljeet is not away conquering new summits, she is busy nurturing future mountaineers through her company, where she trains and guides aspiring climbers.“I want to build good mountaineers by passing on my knowledge and experience to them. Also, we carry out cleaning campaigns to keep the mountains and the environment as we found them. It’s extremely important,” she said.Apart from being her passion, mountaineering has also been a great teacher for Baljeet. While it takes her to the summits of the world’s highest mountains, the mission is complete only when a mountaineer returns safely.“The climbing and descending prepare me for the ups and downs of life. I know the rise will end with a descent. So, there is just peace and no insecurities,” she says philosophically.