HYDERABAD : “The summit was not just a peak, it was a testament to resilience. With every challenge, I reminded myself — this journey was never just about reaching the top; it was about conquering the self, about proving that the mind is the strongest muscle we have. And as I raised my father’s picture at each summit, I knew — this was exactly where I was meant to be,” was how 36-year-old Rohit Rao Madasu described scaling one of the many peaks in his career.
Rohit, who found his calling in mountaineering as a 30-year-old, feels that his passion was ignited by his late father Srinivas Rao, who was an Arjuna awardee and a well-known para-athlete, who competed in different disciplines and represented India in several international events.
Rohit, a techie by profession, began trekking mountains in Dec 2018. “The reason I started was to make my father proud. He was a great source of inspiration for me with his achievements,” he told TOI.
Rohit is now on a mission to accomplish the task of conquering all the top peaks in the seven continents. One box is already ticked — Mt Kilimanjaro, the highest peak in Africa. Rohit’s first trek was the Kedarkantha, a 3,810 metres peak in Himalayas, Uttarakhand in 2018. The following year, he conquered Pangarchulla (4,590 metres) and Stok Kangri base camp (4,969 metres).