How Hyderabad’s Anurag Nallavelli took to mountaineering and turned a digital nomad
The Hindu
Anurag Nallavelli on scaling Dhaulagiri and Manaslu peaks without supplemental oxygen
On April 9, Anurag Nallavelli summited Dhaulagiri mountain range in Nepal, the seventh highest mountain in the world at 8167 metres above sea level. In September 2021, he summited Manaslu peak, 8163 metres above sea level. The Hyderabadi completed both expeditions without using supplemental oxygen. As a note of caution, it is imperative to add that this requires research and training to understand how one responds to high altitudes without supplemental oxygen.
Anurag’s motivation to not rely on supplementary oxygen came when he read the experiences of mountaineer Ed Viesturs: “The book No Shortcuts to the Top: Climbing the World’s 14 Highest Peaks (by Ed Viesturs and David Roberts) inspired me.” Anurag went through high altitude training in Oregon, United States, and says, “Each mountaineer’s body adapts differently to high altitude conditions. I read up and trained before taking up such a method. Carrying an oxygen cylinder or bottles would have meant more weight. In case of malfunctioning of oxygen equipment, mountaineers have to return to the base.”
Anurag moved to the United States in 2015 to pursue his masters in information technology and later began working as a software engineer. “I was not an outdoors person while in Hyderabad, except playing cricket with friends.”
A backpacking trip with a friend In 2018 was the turning point. Soon, he turned into “a weekend warrior”, flying out on Friday evenings from his base in Michigan and returning to work on Monday mornings.
The pandemic changed his lifestyle further. He was on a snowboarding trip in California when the US imposed a lockdown: “A friend and I had to stay put at the Love Creek Sanctuary in California where we had checked into an Airbnb accommodation; we did not know how long the lockdown would last. The couple that managed the animal sanctuary allowed us to stay and asked if we can chip in and work with the animals. We learnt a lot. We also had our work laptops and logged in remotely.”
Ever since, the sanctuary has been Anurag’s base and he gave up the Michigan apartment. Intermittently during the pandemic, he went on hiking trips in Colorado and connected with mountaineering enthusiasts. The growing interest in mountaineering expeditions took him to training facilities in Oregon and Colorado. He trained for six months and climbed Denali, the highest mountain range in North America in May 2021. “The expedition was expected to be of three weeks duration, but I completed it in 11 days. I wanted to do more.”
He trained further to understand how far he could push himself in tough conditions. The hiking and mountaineering expeditions also changed his dietary habits.
One of the goals at the ninth edition of Film Heritage Foundation’s ‘travelling school’ in Kerala was to go beyond Bollywood
Genetically modified crops offer sustainable solutions to food production challenges, but long-term effects on health and environment remain uncertain.
An unusual cluster of typhoons in the West Pacific and a series of powerful hurricanes in the Atlantic are raising questions about the impact that climate change is having on tropical storms across the globe.
Experience Lucknow's culinary heritage at Khaas, a North Indian restaurant in Chennai offering authentic kebabs and biryanis.
We know birds, animals and insects constantly communicate with each other by making certain sounds. But when we think about plants, we do not ever think of them communicating. Charles Darwin, an eminent biologist, thought otherwise. Plants might appear the quiet, silent and solitary type of organisms but they have a complex way of communicating which is interesting and important for their survival.
Flight six of Starship was seen as a test of whether SpaceX’s first booster catch was pure precision or relied on a stroke of luck.
Discover the fascinating science behind how a pencil writes, from carbon atoms to condensed matter physics explained concisely.
North American cicadas have life cycles that last for prime numbers of years, putting pressure on the idea that humans created mathematics.
Stationary objects balance on a wide base due to gravity, while moving vehicles balance due to forward force.
The Ministry of Defence expects the MoA to enable the two organisations to access testing facilities available with each other for mutual benefit.
Research has uncovered the transmission of pathogens between managed honey bees and wild pollinators, a process called pathogen spillover and spillback