I am originally from the Himalayas (Garhwal specifically), although not quite as high as in the article, my village is at 5000 ft and damn did I have a shock when I took my desi friends up there (desi means people from the Indo-Gangetic plains, I unfortunately had to come to New Delhi for college and you can imagine the contrast!). While in Delhi, I am one of the more unathletic nerds, but as soon as we were in the mountains, these guys were no match for me! Roads are still very few and far in between in my region so you have to walk a lot, and these guys were getting tired on paths even small children and 80 year olds have no problem completing!