A 3-day Deoban trek proved to be perfect for an Outdoor Leadership Program in the Himalayas. 34 students — aged between 10 and 13 years — from the Prakriti School, Noida, started on this trek on May 4th as a part of the program. This school, based in Noida, is among the few that focuses on learner-centered curriculum and interdisciplinary learning methods. 

The aim of this program was to hone leadership and team-building skills in the students. And students achieved this objective beautifully. Outside their comfort zone, in the Himalayas, they stepped up as a team to complete the trek.

By facing the challenges of a high-altitude trek, they also became more resilient.

“In the debriefing, students mentioned that when they were struggling with their backpacks or with the ascent, keeping their mind occupied on the present helped them cope with the challenges,” shares Trek Leader Gagandeep Dhillon who led the group. 

The teachers too noticed a difference. They said, “Students learnt to be with themselves, without artificial gadgets around. They often broke their boundaries of familiarity and stretched out a hand for less familiar school-mates.”

For students who had never stepped in the Himalayas, completing a high-altitude trek was a commendable achievement. Through this trek, they set a solid example of how a 3-day experiential learning program in the Himalayas impacts the mind, body and spirit.

The stark, barren landscapes of the Chang Chenmo Valley in Ladakh may soon become accessible. It’s great news for trekkers wanting to explore the region to the north of Pangong Lake.  

To access this region, you cross the Marsimik La pass at 18,314 feet. Earlier, crossing over to the other side was banned due to security concerns. 

But opening of this region has been a long-pending demand by the locals, who used to roam this region with their herds. 

So in December 2022, local army held two meetings with top administration to address this. The meetings favoured opening up of this region to tourists and locals. This decision is wholeheartedly backed by the Indian Army. 

As per the news report published in the Times of India, once the region opens up, in the first phase you’d be able to access as far as the grassland of Tsogtsalu. In the second phase, you could go till the Hot Springs, further west towards the border.

The first and only group to Kedartal with 20 trekkers had a great trek. The team completed this difficult trek on May 23rd. Trekkers were elated to have good weather throughout the trek. 

But they also faced certain challenges. 

“The trail from Bhojkharak to Kedarkharak is washed away and is a complete rockfall zone now,” says Trek Leader Akshay Pawaskar. 

To avoid this section, trekkers had to cross the Bhagirathi river. It wasn’t challenging when the water level was low early in the day. But crossing the river was tricky because the currents were strong while coming back later in the day. 

Despite these challenges, the long, arduous days, all the trekkers were able to successfully complete the trek. 

Due to the clear weather, the team witnessed stunning views of Mt Bhrigupanth, Manda Parvat, Mt Jogin, Mt Thalaysagar, and a completely frozen Kedartal lake.  

“It was a complete delight to witness this frozen lake, surrounded by the big Himalayan mountains. I think Kedartal is on of those rare treks where you get so close to the Greater Himalayas in such a short time,” Akshay remarked after the trek ended.

This is our newest trek in the Kishtwar region of Jammu and Kashmir. The first two groups filled up as soon as we opened the trek in mid-April. And requests to open more groups kept pouring in. 

So we have opened two new groups for the Brammah Valley trek. One on June 29th and the next on July 7th. These groups are also filling up quickly.

Brammah Valley shows a very different side of Jammu and Kashmir. You’ll see dense forests, expansive clearings, stunning, tall mountains and remote villages of the Kishtwar region.  

Trekkers have rarely seen this side of Kishtwar. Locals consider this region as Jammu and Kashmir’s true beauty.

The joy of trekking on your own is something else. “We came back with a huge sense of achievement,” says Tautik Das, who was part of a team of nine trekkers who completed the Ali Bedni Bugyal trek DIY style last week.

On a DIY trek, you do almost everything on your own. 

“The first day, especially, was difficult. It was a stiff climb, and we were carrying our own tents, sleeping bags, and food. The toughest part was that at the end of a tough climb, we had to pitch tents and cook our own food. It was challenging, but being able to push through it gave us an immense sense of accomplishment,” Tautik shares. 

The challenges of the first day made the remaining days easier. The experience in the group helped as well. “A few of us had already trekked DIY style. One member was a doctor. One had completed a mountaineering course. This diversity helped us face the challenges successfully as a team,” he says. 

In the end, the group returned after witnessing spectacular views from the twin meadows of Uttarakhand. “The grand view of Mt. Trishul from Bedni Top was the most memorable,” says Tautik.

Earlier last week, our first team of trekkers to Rupin Pass attempted to cross the pass.

Unfortunately, they couldn’t because of the amount of snow on the trail. They could only make it up to Lower Waterfall.

“Beyond Lower Waterfall, we came across several avalanche sections that were not safe for trekkers to cross,” says Trek Leader Lay Naik, who went on a recce towards Rupin Pass with Technical Guide Uttam Singh.

However, the Indiahikes ground team made the best of the snow conditions, conducting a session on snow-craft for trekkers.

“Trekkers learned techniques to ascend and descend on snow. There was a short session on ice wall climbing using an ice axe, glissading techniques (normal and on the stomach), and how to make a quick snow shelter. We also learned how to make an igloo,” shares Lay.

Coming to the condition of the trail on Rupin Pass, the pass still remains risky and inaccessible. But with bright sunshine now, we are hopeful that the route will open in the coming week.

Here's a piece of news that would interest trekkers who have been to the Deoriatal-Chandrashila trek. The Tungnath temple on Chandrashila, which is the highest Shiva temple in the world, is tilting by 6-10 degrees.

This was reported by the Archeological Survey of India (ASI). This happened after the Tungnath temple on Chandrashila was declared as a monument of national importance by the Central Government on March 27th.  

ASI is keen to get to the root cause of this tilt. For that, it has prescribed a detailed work program. The findings from this would determine the next course of action, whether it would be conservation or restoration

A lot is yet to be determined in this case. Stay cued to this space for more updates on this.

Recently the Western Disturbance triggered heavy snowfall in the mountains. As a result, there is a lot of snow on the Buran Ghati trek this year. Despite these challenges, the first team was able to push till Upper Dhunda. They almost made it to the Buran Ghati Pass. 

“We had planned to go only till Litham owing to the amount of snow  accumulated ahead. But during the trek, we decided to push till Dhunda,” shares Trek Leader Shwetha Krishna. 

The trekkers were ecstatic to hear that we are trying to push towards Dhunda and were ready for this challenge. 

“The trek from Litham to Upper Dhunda was quite adventurous which portrayed courage, trust despite the harsh terrain conditions. We were led on by our technical guides - Akhil and Santosh who made us sail through the vast sea of snow,” says Shwetha. 

Trekkers felt challenged and it was quite the unexpected summit push. 

“We had to stop just 600 m short of the Buran Ghati pass. But the challenging climb made trekkers appreciate that journeys matter more than the destinations,” says Shwetha.

Between April 24-29, students from Grade 4-12 trekked on three different slopes — Dayara Bugyal, Kedarkantha and Brahmatal with Indiahikes. These treks were conducted as a part of the Outdoor Leadership Program for Schools. We had teachers, volunteers and our entire team assisting the students on the treks.  

All groups were a resounding success. The students took away a lot of learnings and experiences from their treks despite facing bad weather. 

“At the end, most of the kids talked about the learnings on how to be a good leader, coming out of their comfort zone, and being in learning zone despite being in a panic zone. They gained more confidence, resilience, sustainability among others,” says Alveera Ansari, Trek Leader who was a part of this program. 

The program also exposed the students to the culture and lives in the remote part of the Himalayas. (Read more about their experience here)

This time we have opened our Adventure Therapy trek in Himachal Pradesh on August 13, 2023. 

“In Himachal Pradesh, we have the Chandrakhani Pass trek." “The trek's natural beauty lends itself wonderfully to the concept of adventure therapy,” says Arjun Majumdar, founder-CEO of Indiahikes. 

The Chandrakhani Pass trek is a beautiful, ancient trail with stunning mountain views. Its moderate difficulty perfectly fits what's required on an adventure therapy trek. During this period, the trek is secluded without much disturbance from other trekkers, making it ideal for an adventure therapy programme. 

This time too, Izzat Yaganagi, head of our experiential learning division and a trained psychological counsellor for over 13 years, will facilitate the Adventure Therapy trek. 

Last year, we faced a difficult conundrum. Should we, or should we not, continue with our fitness checks for our trekking participants?

 Conducting fitness checks for 25,000 trekkers every year is a monumental challenge. We were struggling to be thorough with it despite having dedicated team members looking into every trekker’s fitness. 

 It came to a point where we started questioning the effectiveness of this entire process. 

 So we conducted a 6-month experiment, where we stopped requesting fitness proof from trekkers who registered for easy-moderate treks. We were curious to know — would it make a difference?

 The result was eye-opening. The experiment brought out three big lessons.

What are they? Do read and drop a comment on this article.

Over the past three months, group after group of Indiahikes Trekkers have been cleaning up the Deoriatal-Chandrashila trail. They collected an unfortunate 244 kg of waste from the mountains. This waste was painstakingly segregated by the Indiahikes team and handed over to Waste Warriors in Dehradun for further waste management.

It’s appalling to find so much waste on our remote Himalayan treks. While cities have proper waste disposal systems, in the Himalayas this waste has no exit. Any litter discarded in the remote Himalayas stays right there.

“We want everyone to trek in a way where they not only leave no trace, but they leave mountains better than they find them. This is the mission of our Green Trails initiative,” says Lakshmi Selvakumaran, Head of Experience at Indiahikes.

Recently, Uttrakhand was in the news for 15 jungle trails opening in April 2023.

You can choose your trail depending on the length of your vacation, location, difficulty level and the experience it offers. “Visitors can also experience staying in British-era forest rest houses along the trail,” a forest official was reported saying.