Cold temperatures were not the only thing the family of three had to contend with. The altitude, weather and difficult terrain presented challenges to each family member, even with a guide and porters accompanying them.   

The family’s troubles began even before the hike. Their journey was delayed by three days when they were unable to fly from Kathmandu Airport to Lukla to begin their trek. 

Their original flight, set for Sep 25, was axed due to stormy weather. They then decided to switch to a helicopter, but everyone else had the same idea and choppers were in short supply.

They spent 10 hours the next day waiting at the airport to no avail. After nine hours of waiting on Sep 27, the “magic happened” and a helicopter became available, said Om’s father, 38-year-old business analyst Mayur Garg.

“My plan was to do only 5km to a village before and similarly every day small, small distances, but since we lost those three days what we actually did was, the first day we did 12km. 

“Instead of stopping at a normal place where people stopped, we went even ahead of that to the next village. Just because of the reason, we have limited days, we have a flight to catch back home,” he recalled. 

But the next problem came soon after – Om began vomiting and had diarrhoea on the second day of the hike.  

His mother said: “So then we’re all like, oh my gosh, what’s going on? We went to the local doctor, got some medication, rested a lot, just stayed hydrated and the next morning … he started to feel better already.” 

Not only did Om bounce back, but the bubbly boy also breezed through the longer treks, making up for the lost time. 

“My favourite part was about seeing the mountains, yaks crossing all the bridges and seeing all the mountain goats, seeing baby yaks,” he told CNA.

He also recalled making friends during the journey, including with a group of Singaporeans.

“While we were walking, we found this whole Singaporean group and then I made friends with them and then they gave me a Singaporean T-shirt,” he said excitedly.

“And people come to me and said great job, keep on going, keep on going you can do it!” 

The high-altitude hike, with an elevation gain of about 2,500m, is a challenge even for adults. From the starting point at the Nepalese village of Lukla, which sits at 2,860m above sea level, the trio headed to the Sherpa capital of Namche Bazaar (3,440m) and frozen lake bed Gorakshep (5,164m) before reaching Everest Base Camp (5,364m).

According to straitstimes.com, channelnewsasia.com