FOREST DEEP, MOUNTAIN HIGH

On the way to the Mardi Himal Base Camp in Nepal, RIDHI AGRAWAL falls in love with the country's tea houses, rhododendron forests, and views of the Annapurna mountain range.

- RIDHI AGRAWAL

THE HILLSIDES ARE CARPETED with blooming lali gurans or rhododendrons, Nepal’s national flower that signals the onset of spring. I am stationed inside Annapurna Conservatory Area (ACA), in Central-Western Nepal, at 3,580 m. It’s close to 4 am on a windy morning in April. The glistening mountains feel an arm’s distance away and the skies are so clear that I see the Milky Way without much effort and let out a short-lived delightful squeak.

Soon, I am drawn to the reality that awaits—the final climb that’ll take me to the Mardi Himal Base Camp at 4,500 m. Excited and nervous, in the bare light of the dawn, I join the hordes of trekkers, their headlamps like the North Star, in the most arduous climb of the trek and my six-day itinerary.

I brave frigid air that lands me with a headache and running nose, shrouds of mist that make visibility impossible, and traverse ankle-deep snow, narrow ridges, and boulders. Experiencing these mild symptoms of altitude sickness during a gruelling 10-hour climb makes me jittery. “You won’t make it to the top,” says the angry voice in my head, weighing me down. However, I push forward, giving in to the softer voice that says, “You can do it,” and make it to the base camp.

I had fallen in love with Nepal’s countryside on my first excursion during the pandemic, so I jumped at the opportunity to trek in Mardi Himal when my Indian friends were planning to do their first-ever trek in Nepal. We left behind Nepal’s suburbs for the hillsides bathed in warm, clear sunlight. April had brought the flowers out and the rhododendrons were opening their petals, filling the air with their sweet scent.