ON LAND AT THE SUMMIT: Mt. Lùng Cúng and its signature sea of cloud, which made us all feel we have reached something like the top of the world. Photos courtesy of Hoàng Miên

by Hoàng Miên

Through a life of 60 years, I have enjoyed an adventurous youth and a busy motherhood, well into the years after my children left home for college. During those years I have always led an active life and maintaining a positive attitude no matter what circumstances I found myself in.

I had spent time leading a group of young women workers in the former Soviet Union for about 12 years and met with quite an array of life circumstances and hardships. I went back to Việt Nam after the collapse of the Soviet Union and rebuilt my life once again and repatriated smoothly back into a new life in Hà Nội.

But nine years ago, my father suddenly died. I ached over his passing away for quite a long time. And I found myself turning from someone who was an active person with a positive attitude, who was laid back, into someone who was exhausted a lot of the time. I felt I was swirling down and down. I closed myself out and didn't want to go anywhere.

My hubby was the first one to notice changes in me and he asked me to join him and his friends to trek Tam Đảo Mountain top (1,348m above sea level). That trip turned my life around. The first time I went I didn't even have appropriate trekking gear or climbing shoes. But I got to meet with people my age and individuals who shared some common humanity with me. Many of them excelled in their fields of work yet they carry themselves very simply and modestly. I made up my mind to work out everyday.

I started with not using the elevator. Everyday, I would walk the ten floors to get to my office and back. I would choose to walk rather than drive my scooter around. I've started to notice that my health greatly improved, by 70 per cent. I promise you I am not exaggerating!

We got into a routine of trekking all the hills around Hà Nội for a few years, until my hubby's knees got hurt so bad that his doctor banned him from trekking high mountains. I then stopped for a couple of years.

Everything changed again in 2020, when my friend introduced me to a group of people my age, I started to trek again. We all realised how wonderful trekking is for our health. Not only is it an active physical workout and you get a clean oxygen intake from the unpolluted mountain air, it is about finding the joy of overcoming our own limitations. We kept a weekly routine and would trek two or three mountains a week out of 15 tallest summits in the north.

I didn't particularly like any mountain top more than the others. They are all categorised by the difficulty ratings, but each time when I got to the top, I had different feelings. My mood also depended on the weather at the top that day, because above 1,500m, it was impossible to predict the weather.

We could have gone for a long time in foggy weather, but when we got to the top, the sun could come out shining brilliantly. The only feeling in common was one of achievement, of a greatness when we got to the top that kept us walking and overcoming ourselves. It's a combination of the feeling that you nailed something important and all your challenges have been dropped off behind you, so they won't cause you any more trouble.

I was always among the first group to hit the top. I had a great satisfaction looking back to see everyone else in my group each come to touch the mountain top, as the last leg of trekking was always the steepest and most dangerous.

POSITIVE SPIRIT: Our trekking team get ready to leave.

This current trekking season has been delayed because of the heavy storms that hit the north.

We started our three-day trip to conquer Lùng Cúng mountain in Yên Bái Province with our team leader Nguyễn Ngọc An, an MD with an ob/gyn major. The mountain top has been much sought-after in recent years for its magnificent views above a sea of clouds.

The first day we travelled from Hà Nội to Tú Lệ, then Văn Chấn in Yên Bái Province. It took us a day to get there, where we spent the night in Văn Chấn and had a hot spring bath. The next morning we all got a 20-km motorbike ride to start trekking. The roads were really a challenge because they were still so muddy from the rains. Only the most experienced northwestern riders could manage to cross such terrible roads.

LEFT TO REST: Along the road, harvested terraced fields are left fallow for the rest of the year until the next crop next spring. VNS Photo Hoàng Miên

It took us one hour to trek to the two-tier waterfall. After a brief break, we continue our path for six hours to our camp site which was at 2,500m above sea level.

We hired Mông tour guides to lead us. They helped carry some of the heavy stuff and helped out where needed, they cooked us food, took us on their motorbikes and if they saw rubbish on the way, they'd just pick it up.

The way up was full of high slopes one after another, but thanks to our weekly training it wasn't difficult. But the way down on the same path was often really hard and some of our fellow trekkers had to crawl down.

THE WAY AHEAD: The trekking path takes us through bamboo forests.

In our group there was a guy my age, he also exercises and bikes every week. But he didn't take enough water during the trekking. By above 2,000m, he was dehydrated to a point when he felt dizzy and had problems breathing. He had to take a rest, take some sugar intake, then got some assistance to get to the camp site. He had dinner with us, spent the night in the tent and by the next morning he got up feeling well again and ready to conquer the mountain top.

But after about half an hour, he started to feel dizzy and found it hard to breathe like the day before. So our team leader had to send a guide to help him get back to the camp site to rest, have breakfast then wait for us to get to the top and back to all go down hill together.

The second day, we trekked for two more hours to watch the sun go down, then we got back to the camp for the night's rest.

EARLY RISERS: We all got up in the wee hours of the morning to catch the sunrise on top of Mt. Lùng Cúng.

On the third and final day it was an early start, up at 4.20am in the freezing cold of the mountain ready to greet the sun at the top of the summit. It took us close to two hours to get there, but when we got to the top, I felt a rush of positive energy rushing through my system. I felt every single drop of sweat was really worth my effort. We hung out at the top for an hour and tried to capture as much as we possibly could of the magnificent moment to bring home with us.

ELATED TO GET THERE: At the top

We were all very happy to have met, joined by a challenging activity and we could watch with our own eyes the magnificent landscapes of the northwest. The beauty you can only capture and store in your mind, because no camera or mobile phone could ever do justice to what you saw with your own eyes.

I find trekking has given me new resources and offered meaning to my life and the lives of my fellow trekkers.

After the descent, when we arrived back in Tú Lệ, everyone got a hot spring bath before we went home.

Next up, back to our training routine again, with promises to meet again, at the next mountain top.

We shall see each other again next March, when we trek Tà Chì Nhù mountain. As for A Chú, the 26-year-old Mông leader and hamlet chief who guided us, he will be heading downhill, to Hà Nội next month for a workshop on ecotourism. VNS