The Himalayan Mountains with Explorando Rincones
Family Explorando Rincones
Vega and Saúl are two children who from a very young age have had the mountains as their playground. His parents Celia and José María made it a priority in their education to be in contact with nature and the mountains, bringing to their life the richness and great value that nature offers us.
Starting from a young age to go out into the countryside is relatively easy. Show them every detail, where children touch, smell, get dirty, cry and laugh, get tired, feel the cold or heat, humidity,…Show them the life that surrounds us and that it can contribute so much to our selves is something so necessary and valuable that sometimes it is forgotten, but that is the essence of where we come from.
In this way, Vega and Saúl began to take routes of all kinds, and even climb mountains, and without realizing it they were doing routes almost like adults, and with the incentive of doing it as a family. All this is visible in the Explorando Rincones project.
Mountain Children
Throughout this family journey, with the children always active, we have made ascents throughout much of Spain. Highlights include their participation on several occasions in the Trophy of Cumbres de Castilla y León, El Cainejo, ascents in the Pyrenees, the Alps, where they ascended summits of four thousand meters, serving to make the leap to the American continent, specifically to the Cordillera Blanca in the Andes, Peru, where they ascended mountains of more than 5,000 meters, at the age of 8 and 10, something that captivated them, discovering the world of Expeditions to high peaks, making them want to continue on this mountain path.
The Himalaya with the Family
By pure progression and natural evolution of mountain activities, we set a new challenge in our particular illusion, the Himalayan Mountains. It may sound ambitious for some children and their parents, but we were convinced that we had taken all the appropriate steps to be able to visit the highest mountain range on the planet, and at the same time, dream of making an ascent to the best of our possibilities.
The fact of discovering culture, landscapes and experiences to our children was being our most wonderful expedition ever planned
A 6,000 Meter Mountain with Children
Adapting to the school calendar, the possibilities for ascending mountains in the Himalayas were limited to specific places like Pakistan or India, so we set our sights on the Ladakh region. A region in the north of India known as little Tibet, a place where you can learn about its culture, landscapes and peculiarities.
The only issues that raised doubts in our mind were that it is a somewhat conflictive area due to the borders and they are very strict with the movement of foreigners through the territory.
The Summits to Climb
We prepared our entire trip with special care; material, documentation, assistance with a local company that would help us with all the logistical issues on the ground to, above all, prioritize the safety of the family.
The plan was to do the Markha Valley Trek, where you would do acclimatization and then attempt the ascent of the 6,250 m Kang Yatse II peak. And once we were there, given that getting there is the most difficult, we thought why not try another summit? That of the nearby Dzo Jongo East at 6,220 meters above sea level.
We had to prepare ourselves physically and equip ourselves with the necessary material and supplies to carry out an activity of this type in a remote place, where the basic services that we could understand as normal in our mountains in Europe do not exist.
You can imagine what it is like to do all this exercise for yourself; if you include two little ones in this cocktail, the issue becomes a little more complicated. Finding the right equipment for children is not an easy task, we had to pay special attention to the footwear we would wear, to withstand both the long days of trekking and the cold temperatures of ascent to the high peaks, for which we did not hesitate to equip ourselves with our Bestard rock and Bestard Mestral for trekking and the Bestard Advance K Pro for ascension.
An what happened in the mountains?
The fears about everything that comes with being prepared, and doing it as a family, faded as we arrived in Leh and saw the mountains, the valleys, the temples. It was impressive, a landscape that seemed very strange to us and nothing comparable to what we saw before. We were there, in the Himalayan Mountains, it was real! Our dream was taking shape.
It was difficult to get to our destination, and once in the mountains we were able to adapt and see how the little ones moved like fish in water.
Touring camps and villages, we acclimatized and adapted our bodies to what was to come. A journey without the comforts of towns or cities, long walks ascending valleys and mountains, with their camps, with days of constant activity in which it is necessary to have a good willpower.
Our main objective and first mountain that we were going to tackle, the peak Kang Yatse II, imposed and doubts about our abilities were present, especially on the part of the Hippie in Hills team, the company with which we supported ourselves to carry out the expedition, who questioned us about the attitudes of the children. Soon the uncertainty dissipated, seeing, little by little, that this was real, that that family of Spanish mountaineers, and their desire to climb a 6,000 meter mountain with children, was on the right path, and could not object to what they were seeing.
Kang Yatse II 6,250m
Rest day at the base camp reviewing the material, adjusting everything and planning what would be our first ascent to a 6,000 as a family. Our expedition draws a lot of attention, seeing some children there and intending to climb!! They had never seen anything like it before.
An early morning of those that leave their mark, a hard climb in the middle of the cold night, sickening feeling is what comes next. Situations in which to make decisions and wait, wait for the sun to rise as you advance so that it warms you a little the body, and in this way make the ascension more bearable.
The perseverance of the children was unquestionable, the harshness of the environment was as expected due to the cold, the altitude, and steep slopes to be overcome. We didn’t have any problems with acclimatization, although we did have some stomach problems, but we were able to solve it, unlike one of the members of Hippie in Hills who had to turn around. After a demanding ascent we managed to reach the summit, a summit we had been working on for years and which gave us a moment of happiness, the four members of the Gaurav family responsible for Hippie in Hills, a great person and support throughout the expedition. We immediately changed the euphoria to return to our role as parents, getting down to a safe area with the little ones as soon as possible.
Quick descent reaching the moraine, where our friend Harshal came to meet us, who had had to turn around during the night, and had gone up to help with the descent and provide the children with light footwear, he took off his Bestard Advance K boots. Because they had given them warmth and the necessary rigidity to anchor the crampons to them, they put on their Bestard Rock, which was lighter and more flexible, making them descend like gazelles on the remaining descent to the base camp.
Once at the base camp, yes, we enjoyed the climb having a juice, receiving the love and greetings of the people at the Base Camp who were watching for some Spanish children who wanted to climb to the summit, and they had succeeded!
Dzo Jongo 6,220m
We picked up our camp the next day, loaded the horses and headed to the base camp of our next objective, El Dzo Jongo, another 6,000 m peak, but this one less known and traveled.
We established ourselves at the base camp and prepared the ascent to make this mountain, to which we decided to go at a less early hour to avoid the intense cold of the night. Seeing that we have correct acclimatization and strength, along with the safety conditions of the mountain, we think it is a right decision.
This mountain seemed easier, and technically it was, but it also required great physical effort. No one gives mountains as a gift, even if their simplicity or apparent ease is a fact.
Summit! This time all Gaurav, Harshal and the four of us had all arrived. It was incredible, what a moment… Although the bad weather threatened to make snowflakes fly, the happiness was such that the children sang and laughed, it was quite a spectacle to see them enjoy and feel all of that, we will never forget it.
Once we decided to descend, with speed and agility we arrived at the Base Camp quickly, a base camp where only our camp was, we were the only ones there and this solitude and exclusivity also made this mountain special for us.
Moments in the Mountains
We went through tough moments, where our preparation and capabilities came out. We perceive the welcome and care received, being able to take home a very special feeling from the Himalayas, even now we feel an emptiness, longing for that territory. Its people, roads, and peaks, that natural and human value, a mixture of everything that we fused with our own lives, in which we are accustomed to other things, to having many things in our homes that they do not have, and yet here they are, happy and radiate kindness on kindness, an accumulation of so many sensations that we will doubtfully be able to forget.
Details of our family expedition to the himalaya
YES, with children it is possible, that is our clear idea of things, we just have to educate them, train them and provide them with what is needed so that we can all do what we really like, what makes us happy. Nothing is easy in this life, everything takes effort in our daily lives; Work, family, hobbies, carrying on, it is hard in itself.
In the continuous search to provide children with specific material for their activities, one of the most difficult challenges was finding suitable footwear for them. Thanks to the Bestard team we have found the right solution for our needs and both Vega and Saúl have carried out the expedition with two models of the brand, a pair of shoes for the approach, the Bestard Rock, and boots for ascents, the Bestard Advance K Pro. Their parents used the Bestard Android and Bestard Mestral Lady. With this material, with which we have felt enormously comfortable, we have covered the needs of this activity and many others throughout the year.
In the articles and videos published on our YouTube channel Explorando Rincones, you can see winter climbs with the Bestard Advance K Pro boots, as well as the intense use that Vega and Saúl give to the Bestard Rock sneakers, ideal for children and young adventurers. What we didn’t know was that with them we were going to reach a 6,000 meter summit in the Himalayas, an issue that we have resolved when we verified that yes, and that they have covered our needs with excellent results. We do not want to say that the boots we have used are ideal for everyone or possible situations in this type of activities, but we have done so and with great marks, so we can only give a good account of what has happened with the material used. (Always inform yourself and consult about its characteristics.)
As you can imagine, finding technical and specific material for children is somewhat complicated, there is not much material for them, and the material is very expensive, so if it does not fulfill its purpose we have a problem. Finding suitable material is always a difficulty, but when you find it you feel liberated, “one less problem” and you dedicate your energy to something else.
The whole family has enjoyed our Bestard footwear, being aware of the level of quality, safety and comfort enjoyed.
And now that?
They always ask us about upcoming goals, that is easy to answer, because dreaming and thinking about future trips, new summits, is something we have become accustomed to and know how to do; The most difficult thing is finding the resources and time to do it. You don’t need a long trip or the biggest mountain range, in any space that we find what we are looking for, we will be comfortable and above all happy, that will be our path among all the possible ones.
Explorando Rincones
