After few hours of sleep at Laban Rata Rest House, we woke up around 2 am the following morning. We had a quick light breakfast and left at 2.45am to attempt to reach the summit.
The hike started smoothly, until the kids had altitude sickness. As a mom, my heart was torn, questioning myself whether this journey is actually too hard for them, or, just to push them beyond their limits. They started vomiting and I could see the tears in their eyes. But they kept going.
When we reached km 7 or so, the terrain changed to complete plain granite, which can only be passed by holding on to ropes, in total darkness. The wind was blowing very, very strongly from all directions. Our guide said that the wind is unusually strong that morning, reaching minus 2 degrees centigrade on the summit. We prepared ourselves for the cold, but we didn’t prepare ourselves for the strong wind.
My heart bleed when my little one, in the midst of vomiting said, “I don’t want to give up, mama, but I just want to sit down and rest”. Unfortunately, resting was not an option, as there were no single place that could protect us from the strong wind. We just kept encouraging them to keep going, walking slowly to the top.
We finally reached the top at 5.30am, just before the sunrise. We tried to enjoy the beautiful sunrise, but the kids were just too cold to enjoy it. After a quick family photo snap, which was done by our guide, we descended the mountain, following the kids’ pace.
All are shot with GoPro Hero 4 Silver
