My Gurugram to Everest mission
Some would say my summiting Mt Everest was a stroke of luck, while others would term it a miraculous achievement. But for me, this was the outcome of years of hard work, dedication, discipline and gaining an insight into what life is and its treasures. For someone who runs a small-scale IT company, the remarks are sure to fly around, but I don’t mind.
I was always attracted to sports and bodybuilding in my younger days and coming from Dulhera village in Haryana’s Jhajjar, this was the norm. But life had other plans. I became an engineer, went through the grind of setting up a business in Gurugram and lived what anyone would call a workaday life.
In between, I had strayed from the righteous path as I indulged in taking supplements in the gym, consuming alcohol, etc, and it was only in 2020 that I realised something was amiss.
A big transformation followed when I first traversed through the offshoots of the Aravalli range in Gurugram. I could feel a certain connection with nature. Consequently, I got into meditation and my gym habits changed. I focused more on increasing mobility and endurance rather than just weight training. In short, I realised the real meaning of being fit and mentally sound and strived to achieve it.
In 2021, I came to know about the Everest base camp trek and decided to do it. The 15-km trek usually takes two days but I managed to complete it in one. That is when summiting Everest first entered my mind, and so, the dream began to take flight.
The next year was all about preparing for the summit. I retooled myself by relying only on a natural diet, increasing workout hours, doing yoga and getting deeper into meditation, which I believe has been the most beneficial factor in my journey.
Initially, it was a tough decision to take as I am the one taking care of the family and then there is a business to run too. Moreover, being an amateur climber, I had no sponsor and managed the expedition on my own. Looking back, I’d say it was my positive outlook about life that paved the way for the trek. I’ve always felt that nature has its own way of aligning things for everyone.
I embarked on April 7 this year for Nepal and signed up with Seven Summit Treks agency one of the most sought-after companies for the 8,000-metre summits. I was the least experienced climber there and fielded several questions from experienced mountaineers. However, I didn’t let self-doubts crowd my mind.
The first phase of trekking begins from Lukla to the base camp. Our team started on April 11 and reached the base camp on the 18th. It is an eight-day journey in which you gain an altitude of 2,800m. However, I had done this before so it wasn’t that hard for me.
After reaching there, you start acclimatising for the summit. The oxygen level drops by 50-60 per cent compared to the sea level. We were to stay here for some days and sleeping in bags was quite uncomfortable, with temperatures plunging to -20°C. We adapted to the conditions by shuttling between Camps I, II, III and IV, resting and then pacing down to the base camp after every checkpoint. Personally, I found Khumbu glacier, the infamous terrain between the base camp and Camp I, the toughest to cross as there are several crevices and you can only cross it at night when conditions become frigid and less risky as the area is replete with moving ice.
The whole routine went on till May 10. While most of the climbers were eating continental food and meat, I lived off pinni, dal bhat (Nepalese version of dal chawal), oats and porridge. Still, I was able to keep Khumbu cough at bay a severe cough which ails the best of Sherpas at high altitudes.
With the forecast clear for the summit till May 17, we began the ascent on May 13 at midnight from the base camp. We reached Camp II the same day, recovered and acclimatised before leaving for Camp IV on the morning of May 15. However, the weather changed suddenly along the way to Camp III, forcing us to spend the night there. Around 9 am on May 16, we pushed again and reached Camp IV between 4 pm and 5 pm. The summit was to happen at nightfall. We were off by 9:30 pm and it took us roughly 12 hours to reach the summit because of traffic.
It must have been around 9:40 am when we finally made it and I am proud to say that I was the first in my team to summit Everest. But at the same time, the thought of the two teammates I had befriended one an NRI and the other a Hungarian who lost their lives in the expedition pierces my heart. After all, it could’ve been me too.
(As told to Daman Singh)
