Bachendri Pal grew up in a small village in the Garhwal Himalayas, close enough to mountains that she could see them from her childhood home, but she came from a family with limited financial means, and pursuing mountaineering as a serious pursuit was, for a woman from her background at the time, a highly unconventional choice that drew skepticism from relatives who expected her to focus on marriage instead.
She pursued formal mountaineering training regardless, joining India's first mixed-gender Everest expedition team in 1984, one of the very few women among a much larger group of male climbers, at a time when mountaineering, particularly at the highest altitudes, was still viewed largely as a male domain in India.
During the expedition's ascent, the team encountered a serious accident in which some climbers were killed, and expedition leaders debated whether to abandon the attempt entirely. Pal was among a smaller group selected to continue toward the summit despite the tragedy and the physical toll already taken on the team.
On May 23, 1984, she reached the summit of Mount Everest, becoming the first Indian woman to do so. She went on to lead numerous subsequent all-women mountaineering expeditions over the following decades, actively working to build a pipeline of Indian women climbers who would no longer be the sole exception on a mostly male team.