Actress Sukhi Bal conquers Ama Dablam, eyes Everest summit next
Punjabi‑Australian actress Sukhi Bal reaches 6,812 m Ama Dablam, carries parents’ photos, recalls her late father’s passion and trains for Everest.
Sukhi Bal, the Punjab‑born actress, has just summited Ama Dablam in Nepal. She now sets her sights on the ultimate challenge – Mount Everest.
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For Sukhi Bal, the toughest role she’s ever played isn’t on a film set. It’s on a mountain that rises 6,812 metres above sea level – the technical summit of Ama Dablam in Nepal.
The Punjab‑born, Australia‑based actress stood at the top with photographs of her parents tucked in her jacket. “I told my father — this is 6,812 metres, one of the most technical peaks,” she said, recalling the loss of her dad, Sardar Ranjit Singh, who first sparked her love for mountains.
She felt his presence there. “My dad… was the seed of it all with his passion for mountains all his life, he passed his wonder for the peaks on to me long before I could lace a pair of hiking boots.”
Bal only started taking trekking seriously two and a half years ago. Last year she completed the Everest Base Camp trek and summited Labouche Peak at 6,119 m. Her training has been brutal – mentally and physically. “Mentally, you have to be 110 % present. Physically you can be tired, but if you are mentally strong, you can pull yourself up,” she explained, adding that climbs lasting seven, eight, sometimes nine hours demand sheer willpower.
Her mentor, Malkit Singh – another Punjabi who summited Everest two years ago – guided her early steps. He was the one who suggested the Everest Base Camp trek, a trip that set everything else in motion.
Bal goes back to India every year for film and theatre work, something she’s been doing since her student days at Punjabi University, Patiala, where she did a Master’s in Political Science. She moved to Australia in 2007, originally planning a two‑year stay. “Acting is my first passion, my first love,” she says, “but I had so much energy in me. I diverted it towards mountaineering.”
Now the Everest is the next target. “Everest remains the summit of summits, the mountain my father dreamed of and the one I have been circling, in every sense, for most of my life,” she notes. She adds a reflective line: “Mountaineering looks like an external journey, but honestly, it is about going inwards.” An old adage stays with her: “You don’t climb mountains. Mountains allow you to climb them.”
She also shared a few practical tips for aspiring climbers:
- Leg strength first – squats, stair climbing.
- Long walks with a weighted backpack build the base.
- Winter outdoor training in just a T‑shirt to get the body used to cold.
- Breathing exercises – essential because high altitude hurts the lungs.
- Underlying everything: yoga and meditation.
That’s where Sukhi Bal stands now – at the top of Ama Dablam, clutching family memories, training hard, and already looking toward the world’s highest roof.