12 Kolkata: Arpita Patra, a resident of Midnapore and a Bengaluru IISC faculty member, summitted Mt Wilhelm, the tallest peak in Oceania, last week on Thursday. She has already climbed three of the seven volcanic summits, including Mt Giluwe, the highest volcanic summit in Papua New Guinea.Patra scaled the two mountains — Mt Giluwe and Mt Wilhelm — within a week. During the Mt Giluwe climb, she covered nearly 31 km — both ascent and descent — and gained an altitude of 1,702 m in two days. In the next two days, she climbed 28 km and gained 1,990 m in altitude on Mt Wilhelm. "The challenge lies in keeping the body responsive to every difficult terrain and harsh condition of the mountain," she said.On Thursday, Patra started from the base camp at 1.45 am, equipped with a head torch and layers of warm clothes. In the pitch dark, she continued to climb the muddy terrain. "The base camp for Mount Wilhelm was at 3,400 m. This makes the summit push more difficult. You have to climb nearly 1,100 m on the summit day," Patra said over phone."It was a long trail where one has to climb rocks while gaining elevation constantly. There were a few exposed parts that were slippery. I was not accustomed to gaining so much altitude in a single day. Normally, I gain less than 1,000 m during the summit push," said Patra."I found Mt Wilhelm more challenging than Mt Giluwe as the summit push was much more difficult," she said. She reached the summit of Mt Wilhelm at 8.45 am on Thursday.Satyarup Siddhanta, who climbed both Mt Wilhelm and Mt Giluwe in 2018, felt both mountains exhaust a climber as one has to walk a long stretch while gaining altitude continuously. "There is no infrastructure in Papua New Guinea. A climber has to carry everything from water and food to a tent. The locality is also not very friendly. These add to the challenges of climbing these mountains. The rough terrain and a very long climb often sap energy. Such situations are very tough for a climber," Siddhanta said.