On top of the world

Rea Correa has done something most adults wouldn’t dream of — scaling 17,600 ft to reach Everest Base Camp.

Rea and her mother Sonali Samant took 15 days to reach Base Camp, making Rea the first 10-year-old from Telangana to achieve the feat. Also, Rea and Sonali are the first mother-daughter duo to accomplish the fete. “I feel very proud,” says the Class V student of Sancta Maria International School. From being inspired by Hyderabadi mountaineer Jaahnavi Sriperambuduru’s trip to Leh when she was just five, the passion for mountaineering was stoked in her. She says, “I took to mountaineering when I didn’t even know what it was.”

Rea Correa with her mother Sonali Samant during the expedition.

Five months prior to her trek, she walked up to her parents and told them about her wish to climb the Base Camp, a wish that obviously stunned them. “We initially thought it was just a whim of a 10-year-old. But, seeing her constant persistence on reaching the Base Camp, her preparation and her dedication, we consented,” says Rea’s mother Sonali, a self-confessed adventure junkie herself. Unwilling to send her daughter all by herself, she decided to join her on what she terms was a “life changing journey”.

The training that followed for the next three months was rigorous — running up hills to climbing eight floors of her apartment thrice in an hour. But trekking for long hours on tough icy terrains was not something she had prepared herself for. “It was very tiring. We would walk nine hours a day. I have never walked so much,” says Rea. Another problem they had to deal with was the harsh climate. “The weather was always extreme. We had to get from point A to point B within a stipulated time or risk being stranded. It was quite a challenge, both mentally and physically,” says Sonali.

Surviving on potato, rice and French fries, the duo took 11 days to reach the base camp. “I would keep seeing Mount Everest several times a day. The view was so scenic,” says an excited Rea.

To climb 17,600 ft for a 10-year-old with no prior experience in mountaineering would have dimmed most people’s will, but not for Rhea. Says Sonali, “I wanted to retire to the hotel on the 9th day. But Rea kept pushing me. I doubt I would have been able to make this trip without her strong will to complete this trek.”

For now, Rea plans to go back to school and start preparation for her exams. Her father, Dexter Correa, an employee at an MNC in the city adds, “We will allow her to continue expressing herself in any way she wants. Maybe she can take up snorkelling or deep sea diving.”