Sumeet Agrawal Blog

  It all began in the Adarsh Vista gym in the summer of 2011. I was on the treadmill, when suddenly I heard a loud groan. I almost fell off, only to realize that it was Sathya on the adjacent treadmill letting off steam during his grueling workout. I used to joke – “When Sathya gets on, he gives the treadmill a workout and the treadmill begs him to stop!” Soon we started seeing Sathya with a heavy rucksack on the treadmill at maximum incline. He was headed off to Nepal for trekking. A few weeks later he returned, completely tanned, from the trek to the Everest Base Camp! He said it was very doable – that very day I decided I was going to attempt it, to build on my hikes to St. Helens peak, Mt. Rainier base camp and South Sister peak in the US Pacific Northwest. My wife Bindu said she was not going to let me go alone (perfect excuse to not miss out). Our 13 years old son Sahil was not interested - just kidding! This boy, at the age of 5, would jump out of bed at 5am at the mention of wh

After my early retirement in Jan 2020, trekking was a passion I was eager to pursue, before my ACL-reconstructed knees and general energy levels gave way. But first COVID and then another bothersome knee surgery (meniscus tear) held me back. Finally I was ready to go for it, along with my wife Bindu. I love mountains and snow, those were the basic requirements. The Rupin Pass trek with Indiahikes (based on extensive positive feedback) fit the bill, so we booked it for May’22. Even though we have done the Everest Base Camp and Gokyo treks, we are now 54 and were quite apprehensive about our ability to do the tough trek. It was going to be a 7-day trek, going up to 15,300 ft elevation, with temps below 0 °C at night, and 2 tough days – climbing a waterfall, and then the summit up a steep snow covered gully (supposedly 70 ° incline , though I still don’t buy that) with a long, steep descent afterwards. But – nothing tried, nothing gained, so we did high 5s and went for it! This is what