Scaling new heights of fitness

Chennai

Are you extremely passionate about fitness but don’t find enough people who share your interest? Do you envy people  who take up extreme sports and manage to get their dose of adrenaline rush? Well if you do, here is a group of like-minded people that you might want to join. They help each other stay fit and also find new adventures – be it through cycling, running or any other form of physical activity. Meet Madras Mustangs, a group of 40 friends who are united by a common objective — the desire to stay fit and have fun doing it.

“The only prerequisite to be a ‘mustang’ is that you need to have a certain degree of craziness. Waking up at 4 am,  looking at every road or route as a cycling or  running track, looking at every hill for a trek, having a wardrobe full of workout clothes... the list is endless,” says R. Sairam, one of the founders of Madras Mustangs. It is probably this craziness that drew the group to climb the 4700m Pangarchulla peak in the Garhwal Himalayas.

“It was an exhilarating experience. Though many of us didn’t have any prior trekking experience, we prepared for it by attempting small trek trails  in Chennai (Nagalapuram) to get acclimatised. But however much you prepare, there is always an element of surprise in store in the Himalayas. The experience was unique as we had to face extreme weather conditions: hot weather in the daytime, extreme cold in the nights, walking through narrow ridges and wading through knee-deep snow. It was an experience of a lifetime,” says Sairam.

It took the group 17 hours to summit Pangarchulla peak. “As a group, it was our first trek together and we were all  out of our comfort zone. The team trekked and climbed intensely for 4 days, camping in the wilds, soaking in the pristine beauty of the mighty Himalayan peaks and valleys,” he adds.

Now that the group is back from their trek, what have they planned to take up next? “We have planned an expedition to the Everest Base Camp (EBC) next year and will be helping each other get ready for it,” he says, with understandable triumph.