kedar kantha.

We just finished activity week, a week in which there are no classes at all, and each grade goes on an adventure; I went with a group of grade tens deep into the hills on a trek to Kedar Kantha. There were 16 students, and 4 chaperones all together coming from ten different countries: Thailand, India, Bhutan, Nepal, America, Canada, Vietnam, Korea, Japan and Sri Lanka. We drove around 8 hours, following the Yamuna River, to the trailhead in Sankri, and trekked for six straight days, summiting the mountain (12,500 ft) on the third. The entire trip was marvelous, injuries were minor, a snow leopard was spotted, the scenery was breathtaking, weather was perfect (a bit cold), the students were crazy and the conversation was good.

The entire gang in front of the top of Kedar Kantha

Mike (group leader) and I at 11,600 ft.

We had mules tag along to help carry the load..thankfully!

While camping in a foot of snow, and trying to keep myself warm and fall asleep, I woke to ‘uh, Ms. Shriver, we have a problem….Bidushi puked in the ten’ the scene the ensued seemed to be straight out of a movie, I stomped the sleeping mat and bag onto the snow in an attempt to freeze off the barf while the other girls in the tent gagged. As a solution to their gagging, we had them put ‘move’ cream (basically icyhot) on their upper lips (turns out their faces went a little numb for the rest of the night). The next morning I found out that Bidushi had Pringles that she didn’t even think to offer her puke savior…I was not happy…

Top of the peak
Tenzing, our guide, giving us a geography lesson

pulling out all the stops to keep warm and dry

Back into the treeline

I was able to do a lot of contemplating and thinking as well as journaling and came back to school refreshed and ready to go. We returned to school for a shortened week; this Friday is Diwali, the most important Indian festival of the year, so it has been an easy return back into the swing of things.

One of the boys, Goltaj, found these and was so pumped that they came all the way back to Woodstock with us...