The Empress Of Her Malady

Undertaking Her Toughest Ever Trek Brought Back a Sense of Normalcy in This Breast Cancer Survivor's Life

- Sayoni Sinha

On a cool April morning this year, Ahtushi Deshpande stood in the village of Lho in Nepal, dwarfed by Manaslu, the world’s eighth highest peak, which rises just east of the Annapurna massif—like a white dagger shining in a cloudless blue sky. She was in the lower reaches of the valley on the fifth day of the Manaslu Circuit Trek, and the first spectacular sighting of the mountain stopped her in her tracks. Though the 47-year-old travel and documentary photographer already had a dozen major peaks under her belt, Manaslu would be one of her tougher climbs. What made the accomplishment even more special, was that Ahtushi had just recovered from aggressive midstage breast cancer.

In October 2015, Ahtushi was diagnosed with the life-threatening condition. After processing her initial shock, she realised that years of trekking had conditioned her to weather storms, even the ones raging inside. On her first trek, to Beas Kund at the age of 21, “there were no smartphones or GPS tracking devices and despite frantically looking for it, we weren’t able to find the lake.” She never stopped thinking about it, though, and years later trekked the route with her 10-year-old daughter, eventually finding the waterbody.