Day 1

Arrival in the Camp, Tent Allocation, Survival skills
In the morning around 8:00 am group will arrive in the camp, there will be tent allocation followed with breakfast. About Camp Tirthan: This stunningly beautiful river side camp is located just on the outskirts of the Great Himalayan National Park and offers entry into some of the least visited locations in the Himachal Himalaya. The pristine water of the Tirthan River and the surrounding gentle slopes gives its a character of a picture perfect campsite. Famous for the Himalayan rainbow trout and a variety of bird species, the camp is built as a speciality centre for outdoor adventure learning programs for school children. 08.00 am – 08.45 am: Breakfast 08.45 am – 10.15 am: Emergency Evacuation Drill. Students participate in emergency evacuation drill, learning and practicing where and how to reach the safe house in case of any natural or manmade emergency at the camp. Ice Breaking and Norm Setting. Students participate in a few innovative ice breaking games and set functional norms for the rest of the program to create a positive learning environment. This is followed by expectation sharing in which students share their individual expectations from the program and also expectations from each other. Introduction to the program module. Students are given an outline of the module which is around understanding and dealing with the two most outstanding physical features of the Himalaya: Mountain River and Snow. The module is carefully crafted to initiate the students in understanding different features and aspects of a mountain river, learning skills to negotiate fast flowing water individually and collectively, including different ways to cross and fording a river, identifying risk and hypothermia. The second leg of the module introduces the students into the world of mountain survival, self contained backpacking and eventually dealing with snow at higher altitudes. 10.30 am – 12.30 pm: Orientation and introduction to Mountain Survival. Students take a short hike and learn the basics of wilderness survival, including managing a personal survival kit (water bottle, whistle, personal medication, snacks, warm layer, flash light etc.). This is followed by learning appropriate walking skills in negotiating steep up and down hills sections, including off trail, use of toes in dealing with up and downhill sections, identifying natural hazards like falling stones, etc. These are taught in nuggets to keep the students engaged. Leave No Trace: Students also learn about Leave No Trace (LNT) wilderness ethics and how to minimize human impact on the environment. 12.30 pm – 01.30 pm: Students have their lunch at the camp. 01.30 pm – 5.30 pm: Introduction to Mountain River features. Students take a hike along the Tirthan River and engage in an interactive and practical session on identifying and understanding different features of a mountain river. They get into the river in a shallow section and try to appreciate the most fundamental feature of a mountain river: its current. Students experience and understand how volume, depth, width and current determine the nature of the current and why understanding these are critical for our survival while negotiating a mountain river. Post this, a safe and shallow section of the river is chosen to build a rope handrail bridge where the students can safely get into the water to experience a real mountain river. Buddies are formed and life jackets are introduced. Students enter the river in buddies (one pair at a time) clipped to the handrail rope bridge in buddies along with an instructor and experience current, depth and volume. A downstream spotter with a rescue rope is placed, who along with other students demonstrates and engages students in developing a safety net for others. Crossing a mountain river. Students are introduced to three primary ways of crossing a mountain river – floating, handrail and finally eddy position. The group reaches a safe point on the river and learn how and why to chose a particular section of the river to ford. They also learn floating, body position, identifying and managing risk including downstream rescue. Post this, each student takes turn in climbing a cliff while being attached with a belay rope from both the sides of the river. This is followed by jumping into the river and floating to the other side with the help of belay ropes. After this exhilarating experience, students move to another section of the river with thigh to waist level depth and learn and practice crossing a fast flowing mountain river with the help of a hand rail. Students get in their buddies, are clipped to the handrail and try to cross the river while helping each other on the way. Finally they are introduced to the third way of crossing the river – the eddy position. Students get into triads and learn how to form a triangle in which the apex (strong person) creates an eddy for the rest of the two and collectively negotiate the current. They are also taught the use of bamboo pole to safely conduct this. After an initial ground practice, the group moves to a shallow section of the river and practice this method of crossing the river in triads. 5.30 pm – 6.30 pm: Tea, snacks and Your Own Time (YOT). Students return to the camp and have tea, snacks etc followed by YOT for free and informal interaction amongst each other. 6.30 pm – 7.30 pm: Personal reflection and group sharing on reinforcing Positive Learning Environment and Individual Strengths. Students engage in a story based reflection on individual strengths. Post this, a pack of strength cards is given to the group and each student pick up one strength card that she/he has and share with the group how this may help the group in completing the course challenge. This is followed by a reinforcement of Positive Learning Environment and what behaviors will contribute in building such an environment. 7.30 pm – 8.30 pm: Dinner around Camp fire followed by camp fun. Students participate in a few fun games around the camp hub/fire. 9.00 pm: Students retire to their tents for a good night sleep.

Day 2

Preparation for Expedition, Backpacking, Trek to Banala Camp
At 7.30 am – 8.00 am: Breakfast. 08.30 am – 11.00 pm: Students learn the essentials of wilderness survival – backpacking and fire making. Students are introduced to a backpack and how to effectively pack a rucksack for wilderness travelling. This is followed by the introduction of fire building as a fundamental survival skill in terms of giving us warmth, food and safety, followed by students engaging in building their own fire with collected firewood. They also learn about fire hazards and LNT on fire in wilderness situation. Preparation for Life Expedition. Students pack and prepare for the two night expedition to Lake Sarolsar. The expedition is framed on the Joseph Campbell’s concept of the hero’s journey that talks about ancient epics and primitive cultures all across the world have a story around a hero who leaves home to undertake an arduous journey, with many challenges, overcomes difficulties and eventually returns home transformed as more wise, more strong and more insightful, and serves the society to its glory. Located at an altitude of around 3000 meters next to Jalori Pass, Sarolsar Lake is an enchanting natural lake surrounded by open meadows and high mountains. There is also a small temple next to the lake dedicated to the local goddess. 11.00 am – 12.00 am: Students board cars at the camp and drive for an hour to the sleepy village of Ghyagi, which is the start point of the trek. 12.00 am – 05.00 pm: Trek to Banala camp. Students undertake this moderate trek on a wide and beaten trail, passing through several small villages and fields. The climb is gradual and all along the Banala stream which is a tributary of Tirthan River. Around 1.00 pm the group stops to eat their packed lunch and then again continues towards increasingly higher reaches of the mountain, till they reach at the Banala Camp. Located just off the Banala village, the campsite sits just at the base to the final climb to Sarolsar Lake. 05.30 pm – 06.30 pm onwards: After reaching the campsite, students pitch their tents and collect firewood. The camp is next to a small freshwater stream. A quick pulse check to ascertain if everyone is doing fine. Students are asked about their well being and encouraged to share concerns and challenges (medical). 6.30 pm - 08:30 pm: Students and camp staff engage in cooking dinner. Dinner and reflection on empathy and help around the campfire. Students spend solo time and work in their reflection journal based on some lead questions: A moment when I felt being cared for? How did I feel at that moment? Someone I helped and cared for today? How did I feel while doing this? Are there moments in my life when I did not help someone although I could have? Why? Are there times in my life when I went out of my way to help someone? Why? Overnight in alpine tents.

Day 3

Trek to Seolsar Lake
At 6.30 am – 8.30 am: Wake up, camp wind up following LNT and breakfast. 8.30 am – 1.00 pm: Trek to Sarolsar Lake. After the initial stages, the trail slowly disappears and involve crossing several narrow streams that are flowing down from the Lake. The climb is moderately steep and over snow patches. The distance is around 4 kilometers. While the instructors open the route, the students follow. Students negotiate a vary degree of snow during the climb. After a climb of 3 hours and as the group nears the crest of the mountain, the view rapidly changes and opens up and the hidden jewel of Sarolsar unfolds suddenly amidst mountains covered with snow. 1.00 pm – 5.00 pm: At the lake the group is welcomed by the camp staff with hot lunch! After lunch, students clear the snow patches and set up their camp, followed by some rest and then exploring the lake and its surrounding. A quick pulse check to ascertain if everyone is doing fine. Students are asked about their well being and encouraged to share concerns and challenges (medical). 5.00 pm – 6.00 pm: Personal reflection and group sharing over hot tea/coffee. Students spend solo time in working in their reflection journal based on guided questions: What was my most challenging moment today? Why? How was I feeling? What was I telling myself? What eventually helped me to overcome the challenge? Is there any challenge in my life that I am struggling with? Why it is challenging to me? What may help? 6.00 pm onwards: Students and camp staff collectively prepare dinner. Overnight in alpine tents.

Day 4

Trek from Seolsar lake to Jalori pass and drive to Tirthan Camp
Today morning at 06.00 am – 07.00 am: Wake up, camp wind up following LNT and light breakfast. 07.00 am – 08.00 am: An hour of gradual walk over a broad trail to Jalori Pass over occasional patches of snow. Here the students board waiting cars for Tirthan camp. 09.30 am – 10.30 am: Arrival at Camp Tirthan, followed by freshen up, packing and breakfast. 10.30 am – 11.00 am: Formal closure of the program, with appreciation and sharing of key learning take away. 11.00 am – 1.30 pm: Free time, packing and lunch. 01:30 pm: Students board car/coach from Tirthan camp and start their onward travel towards to there destination. Trip ends here...