Scaling peaks and more

On March 31, 21 students of classes IX and X left for the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute (HMI), Darjeeling, India for our Special Adventure Course.

Accompanied by two teachers, we departed on our adventure.

Our course included natural and artificial rock climbing, trekking and some basic mountaineering skills with some theory lessons thrown in.

The first two days we were busy taking rock climbing lessons where we learnt

different kinds of holds and cracks that made rock climbing easy and fun. Then we were off on a five-day trek to Sandakhphu.

Initially, we all were excited about the entire thing, but as we lugged our rucksacks weighing around eight kilos each and began trekking ‘for real’, it seemed like a curse.

But the feeling of discomforted soon melted as we got used to the weight on our backs and started enjoying our trek.

We trekked all the way to Sandakhphu (12,000 feet) and when we reached our destination, we felt as if we were on the top of the world. Our way back was mostly downhill, but we found out that going downhill is as difficult as walking uphill.

We returned to HMI after five days of a marvellous and unforgettable experience.

During the final three days, we had a series of competitions including rock climbing, cross-country race and a written test.

On April 10, the last day of our adventure, we had the graduation ceremony where each of us was given a badge along with a certificate.

We passed 10 magnificent days at the HMI and we all have wonderful memories to cherish for a lifetime.