Atop the world: Safrina becomes 1st Kerala woman to climb Mt Everest

A 37-year-old's unforgettable ascent from cake artist to mountaineering trailblazer

- POOJA NAIR @ Kozhikode

When Safrina Latheef stood on top of the world, her vision was blurred — but her purpose had never been clearer.

A home baker with sugared hands and a mother's heart, Safrina had never imagined that one day she'd trade her cake tools for crampons, or swap the soft textures of fondant for the sharp bite of the Himalayan winds. Yet, last week, on May 18, this quiet, determined woman from Vengad, near Mattanur, in Kannur district, who is settled in Qatar, became the first woman from Kerala to summit Mount Everest.

What makes her story extraordinary isn't just the fact that she conquered the world's highest peak. It's how she got there: Through sacrifice, snowstorms, and self-belief. From crafting delicate cakes to battling snow blindness in the Death Zone, Safrina has become an inspiration for women all around.

Like many around the world, the Covid pandemic brought Safrina and her husband, Dr Shameel Musthafa — a surgeon at Hamad Medical Corporation in Doha, Qatar—to a standstill. "While the world turned to baking and binge-watching, we turned to fitness," she recalls. "We had zero stamina, but we joined a gym. And somewhere in that stillness, I heard the whisper of an old dream: Mountains."