bangalore no airconditioned cubicle no tapping away at the laptop no backtoback meetings instead it was frostbite neckdeep snow and trudging along treacherous terrain satyarup siddhanta a software engineer from bangalore scaled mt denali north americas highest peak standing 20322ft in alaska to become probably the first and fastest indian to do so for an asthmatic this is certainly no mean feat i wanted to tell all asthmatics that nothings impossible even if you have a breathing ailment i also wanted to break the stereotype built around a software professionals life theres more to our lives than just a computer says this kolkataborn nature enthusiast satyarup 31 and four others sushmita maskey from nepal christopher manning from canada musa ibrahim from bangladesh and ryan francois of the us conquered mt denali also called mckinley in nine days flat and without any professional guidance while musa is the first bangladeshi to scale mt everest susmita has already conquered many peaks in the past however this isnt the first time satyarup has soared so high the software developer with a manufacturing company in it city scaled mt kilimanjaro africas highest peak in 2012 mt elbrus in russia in june 2013 and mt aconcagua in january 2014 he has been off medication for asthma for long now while horse riding fascinated satyarup it was the mountains that enticed his spirit i was looking for courses in horse riding when i stumbled upon the bangalore mountaineering club sheer curiosity took me there i had trekked the western ghats and in 2011 i went to darjeeling for a course on climbing peaks when i visited the everest base camp i knew i had to reach the top one day he says it was here he met susmita and christopher for the first time satyarup plans to climb the seven highest peaks of the seven continents his everest trip is scheduled for 2015 it takes about rs 20 lakh to undertake the everest challenge my passion for mountaineering has eaten into my bank balance thankfully the sikkim manipal educational and medical group has offered to partially fund my next mission says satyarup an alumni of manipal mission mckinley was preceded by a vigorous fourmonths training session where they learnt to trek with a 20kg bag on their backs and a 20kg sledge tied to the waist up to 14200 feet after his tryst with technology and date with nature satyarup inspired by the world and its wonders aspires to become a magician some daychilling memories while coming down we faced extreme weather conditions i had frostbite on both hands and was on the verge of losing them deep snow only meant our tents could get buried any time we had to dig out heaps of snow in the dead of night at some places the snow was even neck deep crevasses avalanches exposed ridges one wrong step and the whole team could have vanished forever we braved fierce winds temperatures ranging from 30