From Amputees to the Visually Impaired: How a Diverse Group of Trekkers Conquered the Himalayas
The mountain gods of Dayara Bugyal (12,000 ft above sea level), a meadow in the Garhwal Himalayas, are no strangers to beautiful sights. Every spring (March and April), the meadow turns into a floral rhapsody of sorts; oak, rhododendron, pine and maple colour its alpine landscape.
There’s plenty for the gods here to feast their eyes on. But rarely do they witness a sight like the one they did on 27 April 2025, as a group of trekkers held onto a rope, knotted at intervals. The leader at the front shouted ‘STEP’ announcing a change in incline, and in clockwork motion, the queue behind him would ready themselves for it.
In all their years of watching trekkers skirt their picturesque horizons, the mountain gods hadn’t seen something like this. A closer look would reveal that the ones holding onto the rope—nine of them in total, excluding the people at either end—were disabled; six of them were visually impaired, one of whom also had albinism; there were two amputees, and one of them was on the autism spectrum.
Advertisement There were nine disabled participants on the trek to Dayara BugyalBut as they scoured Dayara Bugyal’s undulating canvas, there was a sense of quiet confidence colouring their gait; the knots of the rope in one hand and their trekking pole in the other assured them a surer footing.
One of them, Saurabh Prasad (24), calls this idea a stroke of genius.
Saurabh is a seasoned trekker, this wasn’t his first time. But he made some core memories. “During my college years, when I trekked, I would think constantly about the destination, the summit. But this time around, I focused on........
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