Hyderabad: When other children of their age were busy playing video games, these two 13-year-olds from Hyderabad were busy training to scale new heights. And they have done it in style. Muriki Pulakita Hasvi and Rohan Reddy Thumma recently scaled Mount Nangakarshang (5,010m) in Nepal and also trekked to the base camp of Mt Everest (5,360 m).
Coached by Romil Barthwal, Hasvi and Rohan started their training about three months back for this expedition. A national roller skating champion, Hasvi shares that she didn’t stop training even for a single day.
“I would mostly do my training in the morning, but on days I had online classes, I exercised in the evening. I ran and cycled every day — the longest I went on cycle was 56-km in three hours. Apart from that, I also swim and play basketball regularly,” she says.
The duo reached Kathmandu, Nepal’s capital and then flew to Lukla, from where the trek began on April 2. They first trekked to Nangakarshang in six days, and from the mount summit to Mt Everest’s Base Camp in three days.
“It’s not a very easy feat, even for adults. But these children were determined and pushed themselves to do their best. It was quite motivating to see them. We would trek for seven to eight km every day, and as you climb up the oxygen level drop making it difficult to walk even a few steps. But, despite several challenges they never gave up,” shares their coach Romil.
Covering a very difficult trek of nine days, the two braved not just the weather, but also medical issues. Rohan, who is exhilarated to have completed the mission he set out for, was asked to go back mid-trek on day two.
Sharing his experience, he says, “I play sports, but I was not so much into adventure sports. My father saw an advertisement and encouraged me to go. On the first day itself, I had severe stomach pain and felt nauseous as well. From day two, I started vomiting everything, including water, that I took and my body started paining. That is when people decided to send me back down. But, I told myself that I can do it, and after a few hours I also felt better.”
The sense of achieving what they set out for, Rohan shares, was surreal. “I forgot all my pain in a minute. The second I reached the base camp, I was very relieved,” he adds. The duo, busy sightseeing in Kathmandu now, will soon fly back to Hyderabad.
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