The Full Story
About
Hello there! My name is Raman Chander Sood. I am currently 73 years old, and very passionate about mountaineering/trekking, I have scaled various peaks ranging from 4000m to around 6250m and Mount Everest upto Camp 3 at 7300m.
How it Started?
I was born in a small village Nerwa in Himachal Pradesh, so seeing mountains all around me all the time was a normal thing. This was common for all kids, what was different with me was the itch within me to climb every mountain in front of me and see what was on the other side of it. This itch made me climb "Mt. Churdhar"(~3657m) when I was 11 years old and I dreamed of climbing Mountain Everest one day. However, this passion had to be put on the back burner, first due to studies and then career with State Bank of India, which I joined in 1972. After that, came the marriage and the kids. Despite this, I undertook a few treks whenever I could manage some leave and sneak away from the family. I enjoyed my long innings of over 40 years with SBI and retired in 2012. After retirement, I and my wife Anita went for the Kailash Mansarovar yatra in 2014.
Even though, I was happy in my retired life, yet some times I would feel uneasy because I had not achieved the purpose for which I was born. I was visiting my daughter Richa in Dubai in January 2021. One Sunday morning, while I was sprawled on a sofa in her living room after breakfast, my 10 year old grandson Umair jolted me with a question "Nana what is your purpose in life?" his question sparked something in me and made me think the whole day. I was not able to sleep and it was around midnight that I realized that climbing Mount Everest was one of my childhood dreams which remained unfulfilled till date, so I thought of starting mountaineering/ trekking again.
I started this journey by going for the Everest Base Camp & Three Passes trek in October 2021 at the age of 69. This arduous trek once again ignited the fire in me, and our trek leader, Lt. Col. Romil Berthwal (Retired), an Everester and ultra- athlete also motivated me to start high altitude mountaineering. This fire pushed me to climb and hoist the flags of India and UAE on Mt. Yunam (6111 meters), Mt. Kilimanjaro (5895 meters), Mt. Lobuche East (6189 meters) and Mt. Kang Yatze II (6250 meters) over the span of last 4 years.​
My Tryst with Mt. Everest
Finally after preparing for almost 4 years, I decided to attempt Mount Everest. I went to Kathmandu on 4th April,2025 and started my journey to Everest. On the way to Everest Base Camp, I climbed Island Peak (6165m) on 18th April,2025 as a part of my acclimatization. I reached the Base Camp on 21st April,2025. After a few days rest and training, I went for the first rotation 2nd May and spent one night at Camp 1 and 2 nights at Camp 2 for acclimatizing myself to high altitude.After return from rotation, the long wait started for a favorable weather window. Our team leader decided that we will start our climb from Base Camp on the night of 14th May, and then attempt to push the summit on 19th May. I went from Base Camp to Camp 2 straight, climbing through the dangerous Khumbu Glacier to Camp 1 and then Camp 2. It was a very long and tiring journey, so next day was observed as the rest day at Camp 2. I resumed the climb to Camp 3 on 17th May and climbed a 500 meter high ice wall known as Lhotse Face with a steep gradient of 70-80 degrees. It was a very tiring and challenging task. I reached Camp 3 by 8:00 pm. On the way, I used auxiliary Oxygen while climbing but was comfortable without Oxygen during the night. Next morning, I was surprised when my Sherpa told me about his decision to go back. He said that it was not safe to climb higher because of my advanced age. He was probably disturbed because in the previous few days, 4 young persons had died in the death zone above Camp 4 due to exhaustion. So he did not want to take any risk. Despite my strong protest and repeated requests, he refused to go further up and this the end of my Everest Journey.
