People want to scale peaks overnight without preparation: Seasoned trekkers

Bengaluru, NT Bureau: Often, lured by pretty pictures and videos of peaks and valleys, rivers and waterfalls, people embark en masse on treks without proper knowledge, their only intent is to tick off items on the bucket list, said seasoned trekkers from Bengaluru.

They pointed out that if one searches for Kumara Parvatha trek for instance, considered the most challenging of treks in the Western Ghats, Google pulls out hundreds of videos posted in various social media, where people urge others to undertake the journey as well.

The problem is, the experts said, enthused by what they see online, people want to scale peaks overnight, they seldom pause to check if they are equipped to tackle a challenging trek, resulting in incidents like the recent Uttarakhand trekking tragedy that saw nine Bengalureans lose their lives.

"Yes, weather is completely unpredictable at higher altitudes of the Himalayas. But if you have been trekking long enough, you will know that it is not the right time to do the trek at that altitude. Locals do not venture out now, they wait for the monsoon season to end," said Nagabhushan M N, an avid trekker who has been trekking for 15 years and founder of a Bengalurubased, but now defunct trekking group Wanderophile.

Santosh Kumar Gupta, another seasoned trekker, who has been trekking for more than 20 years, said people in India often mistake trekking as a fun activity.

"But it is a sport and just like all other sports one has to prepare for it and gradually increase one's capacity," said Gupta, who too ran a trekking group called Bangalore Hikers until Covid put a full stop to it.

Lack of preparedness means people often have no idea how to even behave in nature, said the experts. "Drinking and littering have become the norm.

There was news of a doctor some time ago, who died of a heart attack because he climbed after drinking the previous night. Imagine, a doctor is not aware that change in altitude does things to our body," said Nagabhushan.

Clement Dominic, who is running Bangalore Mountaineering Club for 20 years now, said in the last two to three years, there had been an exponential increase in Bengalureans wanting to trek.

"I would say from 5,000, it increased to 5 lakh people going on a trek in a month," added Dominic. Gupta, an IT professional himself, said this is because Bengaluru is home to many techies earning handsomely and looking for fun things to do.

Bengaluru being closer to many trekking routes in the Western Ghats, trekking became the hip thing for these high-networth individuals, he added.

"Trekking is also a good outlet for mental stress that plagues IT professionals. So, it is not surprising that it is becoming popular by the day in Bengaluru," said Gupta.

'Survivors sat with the bodies of their dead companions for 36 hours'

Shocked, shattered and depressed, the survivors of the trekking tragedy in Uttarakhand sat for nearly 36 hours with the bodies of their nine companions, S Srivatsa, Secretary of Karnataka Mountaineering Association, said while recalling the sight at the Dehradun hospital the survivors were taken to.

"When I spoke to them, they (trekkers) recalled how because of the heavy wind, their windcheater, jackets and gloves were flying and visibility was zero. So, they took shelter next to a big boulder. But because of exhaustion, hypothermia and lack of sufficient oxygen, four of them collapsed at first. Five others collapsed later.

"They said they were unable to move, caught in the blizzard, and became exhausted. They were carrying food but could not eat because they were unable to open the tiffin boxes amid strong winds," he told PTI.

"With that help, the (rest of them) survived. Otherwise, they would have also collapsed," he added. Among those who lost their lives was 71-year-old Asha Sudhakar, a KMA member for over three decades and one of the oldest women trekkers from the state.