Last year, in a remarkable feat, 11-year-old Gauri Singh from Gurugram climbed up to the Everest Base Camp (EBC) at a height of 17,598 ft above sea level along with a group of 18 people. She was trained by her father, Manmohan Singh, 51, an assistant engineer by profession and the founder of Gurgaon Walkers, a group that regularly organises nature walks, trekking and hiking on the Aravallis on Sundays as well as quarterly and yearly treks in India and abroad.
This year, Singh has trained a group of 15 from Delhi-NCR, which includes four teenagers, who are climbing up to the EBC. “Suryom Arora and Utkarsh Sharma are both 14, and Tveesha Gupta and Sunya Arora are 16. They were all inspired by Gauri after she went last year and thought if she can do it being younger than them, why can’t they!” says Singh as TMS joins him on a trek in the Aravallis, in the Gurugram-Sohna stretch, during the wee hours.
Our trek starts from where the urban landscape of Gurugram ends and the rocky outcrops of Aravallis begin. Singh coordinates, over the phone, with the EBC participants while they reach Kathmandu. Their next stop will be Ramechhap in central Nepal from where they will take a 30-minute flight to Lukla, a small mountainous town in north-eastern Nepal from where the Everest trek begins. But due to poor weather, the EBC participants are stuck. “If the flight to Lukla can’t be taken, then go ahead by road. It can take two days to reach Lukla but the journey has to go on,” Singh tells the participants as he makes swift decisions showing his preparedness for crisis-management, having climbed up to the EBC in 2019.
The drill
How well are the participants prepared? “The training includes muscle training including ramp walk, steep climbing and up-down from about 1,500 stairs per day. Yoga exercises ensure people do not face breathing issues at high altitude. It is recommended to consume three to four litres of liquid per day in the form of soups, juices, coffee etc,” Singh says.
All the 15 EBC participants have to cover a 10-km stretch every day in -10 degrees to -15 degrees Celsius temperature. “A 10-15 year old has to be trained to face the conditions there and stay strong willed. I ensure that kids mingle with other participants and advise parents also not to coddle them ahead of a trip. Further, we prepare them for climate acclimatisation. But to make the journey fun, I tell the kids they can have even pizza and pasta there, which will be made available at restaurants at various stopovers; they should feel rewarded after their hard work,” he says as we move past the sparse patches of dry deciduous trees to witness the fleeting grace of a sunrise atop a cliff.
For an active lifestyle
Singh started Gurgaon Walkers with just 20 members in 2013; it now has 6.000-plus active members, all driven by the goal to pursue an active lifestyle. In the beginning, the participants were mostly corporates or from the IT sector. He, however, encouraged the youth and women by making them walk leaders for many trails. “The youth these days are more into virtual gaming and social media. I want them to think that health is the real luxury. Women these days juggle both personal and professional chores. I keep the walks on Sundays so they can take out at least one day for themselves,” he says.
As we get back to the plains, Singh shows us the footprints of a leopard. Moments later, two blade-like quills of porcupine. Is he not scared of being attacked by wild animals, given that he also conducts full-moon walks into dense forests? He replies cheerfully: “There’s only one life, you can either be scared or live it to the fullest. We always advise people to go with an informed group to avoid being lost. Wild animals usually do not come into the area where there is human presence.”
A full schedule
Singh has a slew of treks planned this year to Churdhar, Kedarnath and Gangotri. He bicycled from Kashmir to Kanyakumari last year, mapping 4,000 km in just 20 days and is planning to repeat the journey this year. Next year, he plans to take a group to Kilimanjaro, a dormant volcano in South Africa.
What keeps him going with such tenacity? He shares an anecdote. On his bicycle ride from Kashmir to Kanyakumari, he made a stopover at Adilabad, Telangana. “I met this truck driver from Faridabad and we bonded over the Delhi-NCR connection,” he says. “He asked me why I was taking the ride and was astonished to hear that it was just for good health. He was smoking and offered me a cigarette. I told him that I cannot ‘afford’ it and he was perplexed to find how a government employee with a good salary is saying so. I clarified, ‘I can’t afford to ruin my health.’ I also told him that given what he earns a month, the expenses he incurs on smoking means half his income is taken away by that habit of his, and it affects his health. Startled by the revelation, he threw the cigarette away. I don’t know if he’s going to smoke again but at that moment, I felt the purpose of my journey was fulfilled.”