So far, Sreesha has trekked 15 Himalayan peaks, including Pin Parvati, KY2, Khalindi Khal, Friendship Peak, Dzo Jongo, and Stok Kangri.

“There is a regime I followed to remain fit for mountaineering. The groups have training sessions, which also equip us. Other than that, I train every day for my trips, which I do at least twice a year,” she says, explaining how she splits time between her roles as a career woman, a family woman, and a passionate climber.

Bharatanatyam, too, features in her life — an artform she’s now pursuing a postgraduate degree in. But it’s the mountains that feed her spirit.

“I had once felt it as I travelled in the Kalindi Khal area in Uttarakhand. There was a silence in the air that was full of a spiritual fervour. Something indecipherable,” Sreesha adds.

“I am not a greatly spiritual person, but I could feel something that comforted, energised me. I believe it is this energy that remains in one as a resolve that is tested during arduous climbs. It really steels one’s grit, trains one’s focus to be one-pointed even as the body shuts down in harsh weather. Mountains do care. They teach — to never give up.”

The treacherous heights make her feel at home, she concludes as she rushes to respond to the doctor’s call at the hospital, where she’s receiving treatment for grade 2 frostbite.