Brilliance at its finest, Kuari Pass. A place I will hold in my heart and mind till the end of time. It was my first after all, and it definitely won’t be my last. That’s short for an introduction, but I cannot express in words how dear I hold this experience. That was so cliché, oh dear.

The circular regarding this came around the October of the previous year, considering that the trek would be in March. At first, I was highly against it. Why? Probably because I never saw myself as someone to do something like that. My parents also tried to convince me for it. Initially, it didn’t seem to interest me. At least, I thought so. In all honesty, the one source of motivation I had was the fact that quite a few friends of mine were also going. However, I must say I will never regret this decision.

After my parents signed me up for it, we were all told we would have some sort of training sessions so our bodies could physically take on the trek. Yes, that makes sense. These training sessions took place in February, every morning for around a month. First, a four hundred meter run around the school track, and then our endurance exercises, concluded with a little stretching. Even though we felt as though it was all unnecessary, when we were on the trek, we were extremely grateful for these sessions. We could clearly see what these training sessions allowed us to do up at high altitudes, giving us greater endurance and strength for all we needed to handle.

What made this experience special was the people I went with. Without them, I wouldn’t have enjoyed it enough to want to go again. We left for the trek somewhere during the second week of March. My classmates, around nine of us, wanted to try our hand at a thing none of us had ever experienced. A trip high up in the mountains, high up in snow. We had traveled with a group, a total of 35 students and around 5 teachers.

Initially, we first landed in the Delhi airport, our first destination. From there, we had quite a long bus ride to Haridwar. I won’t say the scenery was good because I slept most of the ride. The trek hadn’t even started, and I was already sleeping. Classic. We arrived at a hotel in Haridwar called Vasdaa. There were three floors with rooms, and all of us were scattered across the floors’ rooms. We were told this would be our last place with internet and that after this, we wouldn’t be able to get any connection anywhere else. None of us were allowed to bring our sim cards; thus, this seemed to be a great issue for a few who were homesick. Although, I must say I was happy either way.

After a night’s stay here, we were off to our next destination. We would be placed in a lounge-like place at a higher altitude. Joshimat was the place where we were next supposed to stay. Here, we were briefed about all that we needed to know about the trek and got to meet our trek leaders. This was a relatively colder place compared to the previous one. I suppose that is a given with the altitude.

Following this, with only what we needed, we were off to a great start. Our first destination was Camp Gulling. This camp was located close to snow but not quite in it. The tents were laid out somewhat orderly, with a huge tent to the side, namely the ‘dining tent.’ The tents were of different colors but around the same size. With only 8 girls being there, two were occupied with them while the rest were shared with the boys on the trip. We did enjoy ourselves there, marking our first level in our great adventure to the top.

Well, like any other game, we have our second level. The next day, we trekked up to Tali Top. That’s not our final destination, but for the sole reason of acclimatization, we did this before our final stop. We trekked slowly and steadily up to the top, learning all the things we had to keep in mind before our final destination. After this peak, we headed back to Gulling camp. I was, unfortunately, not able to make it all the way, but I was able to spend some time relaxing in the snow. The trek leaders made great snowmen.

Now, onto level three: Gulling Camp to Khulara Camp. The next camp was situated completely in snow, not a single patch of grass in sight. Our journey was mostly in snow, which was incredible. You could see how the sun painted the peaks on the adjacent mountains. It was something I had to rub my eyes to believe; truly an amazing sight, one I would cherish for years to come.

Then came level four: the day after, our final destination, Kuari Pass. The final trek up to the top was unimaginable. The movie scenes where the actors walk along the inclined plane of the mountain were exactly mirrored by our scenic view. While we were there, we couldn’t help ourselves from throwing snowballs at each other in celebration.

From the top, we trekked all the way down. To Camp Khulara and down to Camp Gulling, all in one day. The feeling of accomplishment among all of us was palpable. A spring in every step, a hint of a smile even when you tripped; those small things that show our triumph.

Now that the trek was finally over, we could all relax and enjoy the rest of our time. The ‘dining tent’, as we called it at the time, the place where we all gathered to have lunch or dinner. Sometimes, we would stay in the tent and just chat about topics that did or did not hold any relevance to life. Cricket teams, card games, friendships, harmless debates, all of it. I fondly remember a round of truth or dare, where my classmates and I were sitting in a circle in that tent. I was extremely sleepy, but was not allowed to sleep since we still had to have dinner. Nevertheless, I was drowsy, my head dipping every now and then between the game. My friends promptly hit my head with a plastic water bottle to keep me awake, until it came to the point they had to shake me awake.

After we made our way down and back to our lounge at Joshimat and then to our hotel Vasdaa, we were down to our packing. Making sure we hadn’t left anything behind. I mean, not all our time was invested in that, we did gather time and time again to recount our experiences and chuckle a little at our nuances.

As we made our way to the airport, 2 of our classmates broke news to the rest of us. They were leaving our school. The all of us exchanged a couple of goodbye’s and good luck’s as we made it through all the official processes at the airport. The plane ride back was not any less exciting, even more recollectons of the event gone by took place. Even few words of motivation to plan another trek like this again.

It was truly beautiful. This experience will always hold a special place in my heart as one of my firsts, and I know it won’t be my last. It’s moments like these that remind us of the joy and wonder life has to offer.