Mountain Bootcamp

Let the time slow down with every step, till you get to meet your shadow self. There were many steps to climb along with writer Shikha Tripathi who had signed for up for women's basic course at one of India's premier climbing schools. Trekking, camping and living with 90 students from different walks of life over a month was truly an experience of a life time but seeing all these students support each other was one of the most important lessons that all of us have taken back from the mighty mountains.

Shikha signed up for a month long basic mountaineering course at the Nehru Institute of Mountaineering (NIM) in Uttarkashi, a district in the Garhwal region of Uttarakhand.The institute is one of the best in India and needs no introduction in the world of Indian mountaineering but to the rest of the world, NIM has an impressive bio.The institute was founded up in 1964, as a joint venture between the Ministry of Defence, the government of India, and the government of the stat of Uttar Pradesh to honour the India's first Prime Minister Jawarhal Nehru who was an ardent mountain fan.Ever since, the institute has introduced men and women to the world of climbing and inculcated in them a love for the sport.Over the years, it has produced Indian mountaineers like Bachendra Pal and Love Raj Singh Dharmshaktu, conducted expeditions and done commendable rescue work but has also gained a reputation for being an old school boot-camp.

Commissioned by The Outdoor Journal

From a distance students in catching the last rays of the sun at the Advance base camp.

Dawn at the advance base camp

Instructor Umed Rana demonstrating the snow craft classes.

Students sheilding themselves from the rain at the advance base camp after descending from camp 1.