Scale it-step by step

At 63, Mala Honnatti is one of the oldest women mountaineers and a veteran marathon runner

Mala Honnatti comes from a small town in North Karnataka but that was not the only difference she had with her banker colleagues. When others were planning for their kids’ higher studies and life after retirement, Mala was checking which mountain she’d scale next. Now, at 63, she is one of the oldest women mountaineers in the country and a veteran marathon runner.

Not that she started off as a mountaineer. “As a youngster, I never thought I had the physical strength to go on an expedition,” says Mala. “I had never bothered to raise an arm or stretch a leg. The Himalayas were for us a distant land that one goes to when one renounces family life or for post-retirement pilgrimage.”

Her little adventure to the Mt. Nun Peak in the Himalayas in 1989 along with a Japanese team introduced her to her true passion at the age of 35. She has since successfully climbed Mt. Mamostang Kangri Peak, Mt. Kamet, Mt. Srikailash, Stok Kangri and the Siachen glacier. “Early in my career, I realised that banking is a very monotonous job where one’s involvement is only mental with no physical activity. My first mountaineering expedition convinced me there is life outside my profession too and that I had the physical strength to enjoy it.”

That gave Mala the courage to look at another activity that calls for high physical fitness: marathon. A resident of Gurgaon for over 20 years Mala’s first big marathon was in 1993 (Miyazaki, Japan). And many followed.

Marathon is not just about physical activity, she says. “There is agony, ecstasy and elation.” She tested her limits by participating in South Pole Marathon and Everest Marathon. “The Everest Marathon starts at the Everest base camp at an altitude of app. 17500 ft. and the athlete runs down to Namche Bazar at around 12500 ft. The first challenge is to trek to the base camp and acclimatise to the high altitude. It’s about nine days long with steep climbs in-between.”

Keeping fit is her mantra. “Fitness doesn’t come overnight. It's a lifestyle, and I have maintained a good fitness regimen over the past 30 years. A lot of that has to do with the karate classes I took in the 1980s. It laid the foundation. Regular treks and expeditions and frequent marathons have kept me physically robust.”

Most trekkers avail the services of porters and guides to carry their luggage to the higher camps but not Mala. “This is one of the valuable lessons I’ve learnt in mountaineering — to carry my luggage and what you can manage by yourself. Luckily I’ve faced no altitute sickness.” She believes in taking one step at a time and is currently focussed on training youngsters on mountaineering and running.