Piyali Basak, who had conquered Mount Everest almost without supplementary oxygen in May last year, left her hometown on Thursday for the next missions to scale Annapurna I and Makalu.

Basak, the 32-year-old primary school teacher in Hooghly’s Chandernagore, said though she was confident of conquering the two peaks, her biggest challenge was to arrange at least Rs 31 lakh that she had to deposit with the agency concerned before setting out to summit Annapurna I, her first target.

“I need to deposit Rs 31 lakh with the mountaineering agency in Nepal. It gave me time till April 10 to finalise the payment. Unfortunately, I could only arrange around 3.5 lakh so far. My dream would come true only if I can raise the huge amount within this short span of time,” said Piyali.

Piyali had also conquered Mount Dhaulagiri in Nepal without supplementary oxygen in 2021.

Both Annapurna I and Makalu are challenging for climbers as they are located 8,000 metres above sea level. While Annapurna I is the 10th highest mountain at 8,091 metres, Makalu is the fifth highest peak at 8,481 metres.

According to Piyali, she has received Rs 2.02 lakh from the West Bengal Swarojgar Corporation Limited, while the remaining Rs 1.5 lakh has come from crowdfunding.

“I know that I have to return without fulfilling my dream if I fail to arrange the remaining Rs 28 lakh. I have confidence that people will certainly stand by me like the previous time. I have also written to the state and the central governments for financial support,” she said.

Piyali boarded a train at Chandernagore on Thursday morning to reach Nepal.

“If I can summit the two peaks without supplementary oxygen, it would be a record as no Indian woman has ever done this,” said Piyali.