My K2S Experience

“Do you want to do K2S?” asked my fitness trainer last week, as I rested between sets of dead lift and told him about my plan to trek to Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, (hopefully) in 2024 and how I’d like to train for it.

I agreed, but made 3 big mistakes before the trek –

1. I haven’t been on a trek in ‘for ever’. Short hikes and climbs, yes, but not a trek-trek; not since my hysterectomy and wrist fracture in 2021. I thought this would be similar to the other hikes in and around Pune that I was used to and I didn’t ask him the right questions
2. Saturday was a rough day work-wise and I ended up not doing the things I was planning — like airing out my hiking shoes, clipping my toe nails (big, big mistake) and changing the batteries on my headlamp
3. I thought that it’s a trek in the Sahyadris, not the “Himalayas” and it’s usually the altitude that gets to me, not the climbs. So I took it lightly

K2S stands for Katraj to Sinhagad — a range of hills, with steep climbs and sometimes, steeper descents. We took 9 hours to finish 13 kms and the highest elevation we reached was 1120 metres above sea level, starting at 10:45 PM from the base.

By the time I reached home in the morning, I couldn’t move an inch. My body was sore all over and I had a mildly bruised knee from a fall. I had had 6 more falls, but they were all soft landings (thankfully), all on the way down the steep mountain sides, due to gravel and loose soil.

The Sahyadris tend to be very dry as winter sets in and though the weather was perfect for a night hike, the gravel, the steep downward slopes and that you couldn’t see beyond the lights of the torches or headlamps made the trek quite challenging.

My learnings from this trek may seem inconsequential but here they are:

1. Since my surgery and fracture, I’ve been focussing on movement and mobility with my trainer, and it has worked. My falls on the trek were all soft landings and I have finally learned “how” to fall without injuring myself. After I got home, I thought of how avoidable my wrist fracture was; if only I’d known how to fall!

2. Never go on a hike without prepping — shoes, clipping toe nails, bright headlamps — everything matters

3. Do not underestimate mountains. The mountains are mighty and unforgiving — be it the Sahyadris or the Himalayas

4. After a certain age, flexibility, agility and mobility need as much focus as fitness and exercising

5. Do what makes you happy! Despite my ill preparedness, I was SO happy to be high above the city lights, feeling the cold wind hitting my cheeks, seeing the stars in the sky and realising how much I’d missed this

~This was a precursor to the next trek I am going on — Kedarkantha in Uttarakhand — in early January, my first ever snow trek!~

Photo: The starry night sky and the only lights showing on the mountainside were from the torches/headlamps of the other trekkers

Ritu December 23, 2023