Pune, March 15 (IANS) Pune mountaineer Krushnaa Patil and her mother Ranjana scaled the Mount Kosciuszko, the highest peak in Australia Saturday, the family said Monday. Having summitted the highest mountains in five continents, Krushnaa is now set to scale the highest peaks in Europe and North America.
The mother-daughter duo climbed atop Mt. Kosciuszko that is 2,228 metres high and have since returned to their base camp.

“We - mother and daughter team - summitted the highest point in Australia successfully,” said an excited Ranjana in a message to IANS from the base camp.

With this achievement, Ranjana in her mid-40s said Krushnaa, 21, has scaled the highest mountains in five continents.

“This is apt New Year gift for the people of Maharashtra (Tuesday is Gudi Padwa, the Maharashtrian New Year). Krushnaa has a desire to scale all the peaks in the different continents of the world,” her father Madhav Patil told IANS.

“This year, she has set her target on completing the remaining two peaks. We are confident that she will be able to achieve her life’s ambition,” he added.

The duo will return to India Wednesday, Patil said.

The Australian feat comes barely three months after she conquered 4,897-metre-high Mt.Vinson massif of Antarctica in December 2009, followed by South America’s 6,961-metre-high Mt.Aconcagua in January this year.

Krushnaa summitted the world’s highest peak - the 8,848-metre-high Mt.Everest - May 21 last year and then went on an expedition to scale Africa’s Mt.Kilimanjaro (5,895 metres) in October.

In December end, she went to the icy continent of Antarctica and climbed Mt.Vinson massif. A month later, she went and scaled Mt.Aconcagua in South America.

Now, she has set her sight on Mt.Eldrus of Europe (5,642 metres) and Mt.Mckinley in Alaska (6,194 metres).

Krushnaa, an undergraduate pursuing Bachelor of Arts (BA) at Pune University, is a professional Indian classical dancer and choreographer. She also designs dance costumes, jewellery and home interiors.