Actress Sukhi Bal Conquers Ama Dablam, Sets Sights on Everest
Punjabi‑Australian actress Sukhi Bal has successfully summited the technical 6,812‑metre Ama Dablam in Nepal, carrying her parents’ photos and eyeing a future Everest attempt.
Sukhi Bal reaches the summit of Ama Dablam, a tough Himalayan peak. She now dreams of climbing Everest, honouring her late father’s passion.
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For actress Sukhi Bal, the most demanding role she’s faced isn’t on a film set – it’s 6,812 metres above sea level on Ama Dablam, one of the Himalayas’ toughest technical climbs.
The Punjab‑born, Australia‑based star recently stood on the summit of Mount Ama Dablam in Nepal. At the top she held something dear – photographs of her parents.
“I told my father — this is 6,812 metres, one of the most technical peaks,” Bal said, recalling her late dad, Sardar Ranjit Singh, who sparked her love for mountains.
She felt his presence, she added, “My dad was the seed of it all… he passed his wonder for the peaks on to me long before I could lace a pair of hiking boots.”
Bal’s trek into serious trekking began two‑and‑a‑half years ago. Last year she completed the Everest Base Camp trek and summited Labouche Peak (6,119 m). Her training, she explained, was grueling – 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 noted, describing climbs lasting seven, eight, sometimes nine hours.
Her mentor, fellow Punjabi Malkit Singh from New Zealand – an Everest summiteer two years ago – guided her early steps. It was Singh who first suggested the Everest Base Camp trip that set everything else in motion.
Based in Australia, Bal returns to India each year for film and theatre work, a career she’s kept since her student days at Punjabi University, Patiala, where she earned 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 looms. “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,” Bal says, adding that mountaineering is as much an inner journey as an outer one.
She recalls an adage that carried her through: “You don’t climb mountains. Mountains allow you to climb them.”
Sukhi’s tips for aspiring mountaineers
- Leg strength first – squats, stair climbing.
- Long walks with a weighted backpack build the base.
- Winter outdoor training in a T‑shirt to get used to cold.
- Breathing exercises are crucial at altitude.
- Yoga and meditation underpin everything.
— Jaspreet Nijher, principal correspondent, The Times of India, Chandigarh