Rifiness Warjri, a 20-year-old National Cadet Corps (NCC) cadet and St. Anthony’s College student, became the third woman from the state to successfully climb Mount Everest, marking a proud moment for Meghalaya and the NCC. As a member of an NCC excursion team consisting of ten cadets, with an average age of 19, the achievement was completed on Sunday. An important milestone for the NCC’s mountaineering program was attained when the team unfurled the Indian national flag and reached the 8,848.86-meter summit.
Warjri’s extraordinary strength and dedication were highlighted by the fact that she was the only cadet chosen from the whole Northeast region for the high-altitude excursion. She had already climbed Mount Abi Gamin (7,355 meters) in Uttarakhand as part of her training, so this is not her first climbing accomplishment. With this climb, Warjri becomes one of the few women from Meghalaya to reach the peak of Everest, joining Wansuk Myrthong (2013) and Dolyne Kharbhih (2016).
Officials hoped that Warjri’s accomplishment would encourage more young people from the Northeast to pursue adventure and patriotism, and they hailed it as a monument to the bravery, self-control, and perseverance that NCC training instilled.