Trekking is like an addiction; you do it once, and you want to keep craving for more. After completing the Annapurna Circuit and Tilicho Lake trek, I was dreaming about the Mt. Everest Base Camp trek in Nepal. As many women can relate to me, it is difficult to find a company for such offbeat passions. I was set to overcome the obvious deterrents and believed that the Universe provides to one who asks for it! This is the prelude of my and my daughter’s journey for planning the EBC trek.
Recently my daughter had started accompanying me on hiking expeditions. She had been showing enthusiasm for early morning hikes, and long and tiring ones, too. Last year we went to Humphrey’s Peak (the tallest peak in Arizona) and the Grand Canyon rim to the river and back in one day. Those two hikes are must-dos for any hiker in Arizona. In the past, we had been on the Havasupai hike as well. She was keen on joining on multi-day hikes and I was gaining more confidence in her capabilities than mine. Therefore, I started planning to hike an EBC trek with my daughter. This could be the last year when she could spare missing school and might have a slow summer she can take off. I started approaching my friends/contacts in India, asking for dates/pricing for EBC. However, October and November were busy months for trekker companies to plan winter treks, and they were not planning for summer or post-April treks yet. So, I had to be patient.
Meanwhile, we went to a Diwali party at a dear friend’s place, and one friend randomly asked me about going on the EBC trek. He had heard that I had been on the Annapurna Circuit recently and thought of asking me to join the EBC trek. I immediately said yes, thinking this could be one of those plans that I seem to make with friends/family which everyone knows are never going to happen. Regardless, it seemed like serendipity for sure. A couple of weeks after that conversation, I went on a hike with another friend in our community. As always, while hiking we were discussing where else we should be hiking in the future, and she asked about my next Himalayan expedition. I mentioned that I was interested in going to EBC and my recent conversation with other friends during the Diwali party. She also wanted to join us and asked me to keep her posted. These were good enough signs from the universe that it was time!
I will not bore you with all the other details, but after filtering out tour operators and considering recommendations, duration, and our own experience, we decided to go with Open Skiez Outdoor Leadership, LLP, operated by Rahul and Leena Deshpande. They are school friends of another friend of mine who would accompany us on this trek. Rahul and Leena had been leading Himalayan expeditions a while and they introduced us to Vikas, who has summited Everest! Once we finalized the tour company, things started moving quickly. Soon enough what had started as a casual conversation started shaping up as a solid plan. As the news spread, we got friends of friends to join this trek, and we finally had a total of 15 group members! Ten from Chandler, two from France, two from New Jersey, and one from India.
By mid-January, we started hiking regularly: every weekend. Rahul and Leena were keeping us informed on periodic Zoom calls, to go over our questions/concerns and to share the details of what to expect on the trek. Vikas also joined a few calls and asked everyone about their fitness/exercise routines/physical limitations. Soon enough Vikas shared the individual training plan for each of us for the next 5–6 weeks so that we could be prepared for the strenuous trek. I will be honest that I had not been super regular with this plan but started being more religious about daily walks of 5–6 km, yoga on most days, and weekend hikes. I added squats and lunges to my weekly routine along with plank and weight training once a week. Could I have done more? Yes, but did I? No, and time would tell if this was enough or not. Honestly, each trek is different. I would even say every hike experience varies. How you slept the night before, your attitude, hydration, food intake, weather, elevation, and so many other factors affect how you feel on each hiking day. So, I was not going to worry about whether I was prepared or not, and I believed in the famous saying that the mountains would take care of us!
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