A London-based entrepreneur has offered to fund the training of Sukhwinder Kaur, an amateur Indian mountaineer, in one of the mountaineering schools in Switzerland [Images] or Austria.

Leading entrepreneur-cum-philanthropist Kartar Lalvani has said he is ready to provide the entire fee amounting to over 20,000 pounds for the training of the 34-year-old who hit the headlines last week when she refused to descend from Mount Everest [Images] after failing to scale the 29,035 ft summit.

Lalvani, founder of Britain's first specialist vitamin supplement company, Vitabiotics, said: "I am delighted to learn the safe return to Kathmandu of Miss Sukhwinder Kaur.

"The determined Sukhi, although unprepared and untrained, went for the impossible and somehow managed to climb over 7000 mt. It is a commendable achievement by any standards for any woman.

"I am already in touch with the Swiss and Austrian mountaineering schools for finding and funding her placement for her most deserving training."

Asked what would be the total funding required, Lalvani, who is actively involved in the Asian Elephant Conservation project in Woburn in the UK, said it could be over 20,000 pounds.

According to desperate e-mails sent by other members of her expedition, Sukhinder Kaur, a novice mountaineer, said she would rather die on Everest than compromise her family's honour by failing to reach the 29,035ft summit.