Another mountain to climb

It was a chance meeting with Vikas during training at the common grounds of Tika Ram School and CRZ Boys School,Sonepat,that Sushma first got to know Vikas,and when the couple got engaged in 2008,Sushma had already done a basic course in mountaineering from National Institute of Mountaineering,Uttarkashi. The couple got married in June 2008 and the following months saw them undertake advanced and search and rescue courses from NIM. “Sushma was mad about Everest back then. When we met and later got engaged,she told me about her dream. And then I did the basic course from NIM. Later we did the advanced course together and climbed the Shivling peak together,” says Vikas.

The couple had made plans to scale Everest in 2010 and completed all the formalities the same year. But lack of financial resources meant that the couple had to wait for one more year. The State government gave them Rs 6 lakh and they arranged for the remaining 34 lakh with the help of relatives,loans and people from their villages contributing towards their cause.

pursuing the dream

“Due to the government change and the court orders about appointment of constables,I was terminated three times from the police. But in 2007,I got recruited again. The day I joined,my father died. But we wanted to pursue the dream. I would do my police duty in the day and we would train in the evening. We would train with 25 kg bags and would run from the ground floor to the fourth floor in our building. Our neighbours would say we had gone mad,” says Sushma,who has not got a promotion since 2007.

The couple joined the Eco Everest expedition under Japanese leader Ken Naguchi and reached the peak in May 2011. Vikas still remembers that Sushma took the slow approach and would stay behind,taking time to acclimatise. But the sherpas and the group leaders appreciated her technique and would assist accordingly. “She was slow in the beginning. But I knew that she is fitter than most of us. When we reached the Hillary step,I went ahead for 200m. After some time,I had to come back and join her since we wanted to scale the summit together. When we reached the top,I told Sushma,”this was our honeymoon.” She just smiled and we started the descent. We had read about Moni Mulepati and Pem Dorje Sherpa marrying at the summit but we were the youngest married couple to climb the mountain,” says Vikas.

keeping the connection

Sushma shares another detail. “We have named our son Sagarmatha,which is the Nepalese name for Everest. We sacrificed a lot of things for the summit and when he was born,we saw him as a gift from the mountain,” she says.

The couple plan to raise awareness about mountaineering in Haryana and organise lectures and training sessions on their own in Panipat. “We want the villagers to learn about mountaineering. Most of them are athletic and if given proper training can be good climbers. I hold lectures about mountaineering in the nearby villages and we are waiting for the day when the government will support us,” says Vikas.