In April, there was a second wave of Covid going on and I also became a part of it by getting infected, so nothing much happened after that for a few months. Then in July, I found an advertisement for a Sky Running event called ‘Solang SkyUltra by The Hell Race’ near Manali, Himachal Pradesh scheduled in October and as soon as I found it I wanted to try it. Sky Running is a form of mountain running at 2000m or above sea level on terrain involving steep climbs. So, I packed my bags and reached Manali for this event. The event that I had registered for was 14 KM in length with almost 1900m of elevation gain to be completed within a 6 hrs time limit. I had to climb Mount Patalsu peak, which is about 4250m above sea level, and come back to finish.
After trying to climb this peak twice before the event and not being able to reach the top I was unsure weather I would be able to reach there on the race day or not. I had no expectations of myself. I went there purely for fun and for the love of climbing mountains and running. But I also found my love for trail running there.
I reached the top in 3hrs 15mins, unexpectedly, rested for 15-20 min and came back to finish in another 1 and half hour making it total ~5 hrs. This was the most emotional race for me till now. I also came 8th in the men's category and 10th overall.
