- A family hiked with 4 kids under 12 to Everest's base camp, facing leeches, low oxygen, and heavy rain.
- The Matulis family from New Zealand climbed to base camp last year.
- Chris Matulis, the dad, told Insider the challenges were worth the bonding time they shared.
The paths that lead to the base camp of Mt. Everest are notorious for their twisting trails, high altitude, and fickle weather. It can be a challenging trek for even the most seasoned climbers.
One family navigated all of that — while bringing along their four children under 12.
Chris Matulis told Insider that he and his wife Cindy had always had an active lifestyle and wanted to keep that going once they had kids.
When they traveled to Nepal to climb Everest's base camp, the plan was always to go as a family of six. They had climbed other difficult trails and mountainous regions and decided this one wasn't any different.
So they brought their four children: Hobie, 11, Henry, 9, Hallie, 6, and Hazel, 2.
"At first, we thought it would be cool to just walk the start of the trail and get to see the culture, and other hikers starting their journeys," Chris said.
The nearly 100-mile, weeks-long Himalayas hike had its challenges, from changing oxygen levels to heavy bags and language barriers.
Chris and Cindy said they constantly monitored their children's oxygen levels to keep them safe, and decided to bring 2-year-old Hazel along after learning that other families with kids of the same age or younger had completed the trip.
Breaking up distances between days helped make the trip more manageable while giving everyone extra time to adjust to the altitude.
But the harrowing hike came with challenges the family never expected: trails were filled with leeches, and the Matulises often found that the more they ripped the hungry bloodsuckers off their skin, clothes, and bags, the more they hung on.
Six days into their hike to the base camp, the Matulis family faced the hardest moment of the trip. A landslide pushed them to a detour; Chris described it as a nightmare.
"It was a narrow muddy trail that went straight up a hill and back down," he said. "The mud was 2-feet-deep in places, there were leeches, it was raining, and since it was the beginning of the trip our bodies were not used to carrying a lot of weight."
It was the one time the family wished they had hired a guide. As they trudged through muddy paths filled with creepy critters, the Matulis family told Insider that they considered turning back.
But they carried on.
One night, while the family was staying in a village tea house, Chris found the largest leech of the trip attached to his hand. He quickly removed it and washed it down the bathroom sink.
But the leech wasn't forgotten. "I then went to eat dinner and had a scary thought," he told Insider. "What if the leech climbs out of the sink and latches on to one of our faces during the night?"
Sure enough, the leech had climbed out of the sink and onto the wall.
Eventually, Henry came up with an idea to use a leaf to remove the suckers, making de-leeching a bit easier.
Then, just before they reached the base camp, the trails reached an altitude of over 17,000 feet and oxygen levels hit a record low.
"We almost turned around so close to our goal," Chris said. But the Matulises spent more time acclimating to the altitude and were able to persevere.
Despite the challenges — and the journey being the hardest trek the family's ever endured — there were plenty of highlights.
Just a day away from Everest, the kids decided to take a swim in a gorgeous and chilly glacier pool.
Getting to cross the Hillary Bridge — a rather treacherous-looking suspension bridge known for its colorful prayer flags — was also a special moment the family shared, Chris said.
But the best part of the difficult journey was the time the Matulis family got to spend together.
"You really get to know your kids a lot when you spend hours on the trail, just talking," Chris said. "You're free of distractions. You just spend time together talking, dreaming, brainstorming, and bonding."
