Eight-year-old Singaporean schoolboy Darrshan Raj Thurairajasingam recently spent part of his June school holidays climbing up to Everest Base Camp. He and his father, 37-year-old Thurairajasingam Vijeyasingam, set out on from Lukla in Nepal on 8 June and reached base camp on 14 June, a few days before Darrshan’s ninth birthday.
Everest’s Peak is 8,848m high and Everest Base Camp in Nepal sits at 5,364m, which is not much lower than Uhuru Peak on Mount Kilimanjaro (5,895m), and is a challenging climb even for adults.
Darrshan reportedly got the idea to climb to Base Camp from his parents. His father owns a gym in Singapore and was planning a trip for members of his gym. ‘As he was discussing the plans with his wife at home, he offhandedly asked Darrshan, who was sitting next to him, if he wanted to join them,’ reported Today.
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‘We took his response very lightly, but he kept asking when he was going and how it would be for the next few weeks,’ Mr Thurairajasingam told Today.
After Mr Thurairajasingam read reports about other children making the trek he realised that it was possible. With the support of his wife he designed a rigorous training programme for Darrshan.
‘I made it very clear to him that if he wants to join us on the trip, he needed to be committed to the training,’ he said.
Darrshan began going to gym three times a week and his training including running on the treadmill, jumping and skipping. He also began cycling 50km twice a week with his father and continued with his regular twice-weekly swimming and twice-weekly soccer practices.
When the eight-year-old was asked what the scariest part of the climb was he said, ‘We had to cross a bridge on our first day and it was scary because there was a river underneath us.’ According to Today he did get used to bridge crossing as there were a number on the trip.
Image: Ben and Gab/ Flikr
