Piyali Basak, who scaled Mount Everest almost without supplementary oxygen, came home to Hooghly’s Chandernagore after two months on Saturday.

People of Chandernagore gave the 31-year-old primary teacher a rousing welcome, making her take rounds in the town in a vintage car. Then, she was invited for another felicitation at Calcutta Press Club.

Piyali, who had scaled Mount Everest on March 23, also aced Mount Lhotse on March 25. Sources said she went up to 8,540 metres of the 8,849 metre-tall Mount Everest without supplementary oxygen.

“I am really overwhelmed by the reception today. I had trekked several places with my parents in childhood that helped me scale up the highest peak almost without supplementary oxygen. Those who scale up such peaks without help of supplementary oxygen usually go through a special training,” said Piyali. She also said despite the good weather earlier, she could not climb Mount Everest as she lacked funds. This time, a large amount of money was crowdfunded from across Bengal to support the young woman.

(Reporting by Snehamoy Chakraborty, picture by Amit Kumar Karmakar)