Anjali Kulkarni

Kulkarni said: "The last team to arrive at base camp was the National Cadet Corps girls team (as far as I know) and they too arrived around April 20 or so. If a team arrived at base camp in the first week of May, there is not enough time to acclimatise and push for the summit.

"Some of us met the Rathods on May 10. By then, they had still not visited the Khumbu icefall for their first rotation up the mountain. They had done some minor training on the ice pinnacles near Everest base camp. However, neither had done the training necessary for the climb. If a team has not started acclimatisation until May 10, it is close to impossible to reach the summit on May 23 unless the Rathods are superhuman fitness stars."