Mount Everest in Winter? Why not!

Some like to relax during the winter break before an oncoming semester; some like to visit a bustling city or a serene island - not our peer advisor Vishnu Narayanan. Narayanan, who've never been interested in trekking or any similar activities, decided to spend his winter break trekking up Mount Everest. Yes, Mount Everest!

Vishnu is a 21 year old Finance student working as a peer advisor at IXO. He became a peer advisor after doing a semester abroad in Maastricht University, Netherlands. Although that was a year ago, Narayanan had an all too-familiar urge that almost all our returning students face once they've explored a different country; he now had an itch to keep traveling. During his time abroad, shortly after his finals, he had taken some time to backpack around Spain and Portugal. In an unusual little hostel in Barcelona, he had met a woman with an enormous backpack, exhilarated about her trek up beautiful Mount Everest. Their meeting was brief, but for weeks, Narayanan couldn't seem to shake thinking about doing the same. A few weeks ago, he did just that.

Narayanan's trip lasted fifteen days in total, twelve of which consisted of trekking up towards base camp as well as making his way down with the group. Accompanying him on this exciting endeavor was his cousin and thirteen other people all aiming to complete this trail. Narayanan later explains that it wasn't the trek that was the most petrifying element of his trip. "I was terrified on the aircraft" he recounts. "it was one of those small aircrafts that practically sway in the wind, and flights would get cancelled if the weather is the slightest bit rough". The aircraft he was referring to was one that took the travelers closer to the start of their trekking trail.

When he finally began his first day of trekking, Narayanan was not feeling himself. He was feeling faint, weak and nauseous. Pretty soon, Narayanan realized that he was about to undertake a 12-day trek to the base camp on Mount Everest in unfamiliarly frigid weather... and he had food poisoning.

One can only imagine how difficult it would be to be trekking upwards for 8 to 12 hours a day when they can't eat anything in order to get their energy. Suffice to say, Narayanan's first day on the mountain was not pleasant. He couldn't bring himself to eat much or drink anything, and was therefore exhausted. He struggled to force himself to keep going during the first few days, especially when the weather - a bustling -20 and some days more - was a challenge of its own.

"When first deciding to make this trip real, I was full of doubt and fear. Doing this would mean completely stepping out of my comfort zone - both me and my cousin" Narayanan elaborates. As you can tell in the magnificent photo above of our Vishnu Narayanan proudly displaying our IXO flag at the base camp of Everest, he succeeded. He later explains that after coming back down and returning home, there was little else he felt he couldn't technically conquer: "everything was against us... the weather, the altitude, my food poisoning... and we did it!"

He believes his experience has filled him with more confidence that before, and allows him to think that when faced with a challenge in the future, he needs to only remember he had trekked up Mount Everest! We suppose that's a definite way one could realize they can accomplish anything!

While interviewing Narayanan, even when discussing the tougher parts of the trip, he never sounded regretful. In fact, he concluded "I'm just glad I made it back alive" with a grin stretched across his face.

Check out our Instagram and Twitter for more photos from the trek.

We can't wait to see where else Vishnu Narayanan finds himself in the future!





Bayan Almasri 
Publicity Specialist