Simran Bajwa describes the feeling of reaching one of the highest summits in the world as a sense of elevation.
Of course, elevation is the name of the game when it comes to climbing the likes of Mount Kilimanjaro. But the Vernon mountaineer used the word in an almost spiritual way. Reaching summits is proof to the 24-year-old that pain can lead to success, even to euphoria.
And Bajwa has been through pain beyond the burning in her legs and her lungs on her way up a mountain. She told The Morning Star she escaped an abusive situation around the time she found mountaineering.
Now that the abusive person is no longer in her life, she’s been able to use her built-up resilience and strength to drive herself higher and higher towards personal goals.
She hasn’t looked back, and she now finds herself in rarefied air.
Bajwa is seeking to break two records. She’s working to become the youngest woman in history to climb Mount Everest with no supplemental oxygen, and also the youngest Canadian — man or woman — to climb the Seven Summits.
Already, she’s climbed four of the Seven Summits — Aconcagua, the highest mountain in South America; Kilimanjaro, the highest in Africa; Elbrus, the highest in Europe; and Mount Kosciusko, the highest in Australia.
In less than three months, Bajwa will head to Alaska to take on Mount Denali, North America’s highest mountain. This will be her fifth of the Seven Summits. After that, she’ll be going to Antarctica this winter to climb Vinson Massif.
Finally, next spring, she’ll take on the king of them all, Mount Everest in the Asian Himilayas, with no supplemental oxygen.
To achieve these feats, Bajwa is putting her body through as much strain as possible in her training. It’s a specific type of training she needs, since she won’t be using added oxygen for any of her climbs.
“Not only do you have to condition your body to sustain weeks of climbing in cold, harsh climates, but you also have to condition your mind to not give up before your body,” she said.
She’s been training with intention since September 2025 and continues to work in phase one of a four-phase plan. The first phase is focused on heavy sled pulling, heavy packs, resistance training and increasing her V02 max.
Mountaineering has been Bajwa’s passion for many years. Trying to break these two records is her way of proving she’s capable of achieving what she sets her mind to.
“I have built a lot of self-confidence throughout this journey, and I think actually pushing myself to try to break the records will further my drive and willpower to do hard things.”
Mountaineering adds peace and concentration to Bajwa’s life. It’s also an adventure that has taken her around the world, experiencing different places and cultures, trying different foods, and then seeing the world from above from a different angle at each summit she conquers.
It’s an expensive endeavour, so Bajwa has been raising money online via GoFundMe to fund the pursuit. So far, she’s raised nearly $7,000 from that funding source, which only puts a small dent in the overall costs.
Each of the four summits she’s climbed so far has brought on a different feeling as she stands before a view that relatively few will behold. They each represent different challenges she overcame on the way up.
But whatever the feeling, it’s mixed with giddiness each time.
“It’s a great feeling to look around at the smiles on your teams’ faces, with frozen tears streaming down your cheeks and icicles instead of hair peeking out of helmets and parkas,” she said. “It truly makes it all worth it.”
Learn more about Bajwa’s journey at simransummits.ca.