Describe the activity and your goals:
This CAS experience was one of the most challenging, and the most memorable experiences of my CAS journey. Me along with my 3 friends had planned to go on a 12 day trekking trip. Our destination was pangarchulla peak with a brief visit to kuari pass. The pangarchulla peak stood tall 15,000 ft above feet level and it was quite a challenging climb.
LO1: Identify own strengths and develop areas for growth
One of my strength that I showcased on the trek was to be a risk optimizer as many other people of the group found it very dangerous and I wouldn’t say i wasn’t scared but watching one of the trekking instructor in climbing uphill easily made my fear go away and motivated me to climb more. I believe highly in teamwork which was a crucial strength that helped us as a group to reach at our final destination (Pangarchulla Peak). Motivating my friends and group mates helped the group climb to the peak much faster than anticipated earlier.
LO2: Demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills in the process
As this was my first trip that can be considered as a trekking trip and before going on in this trip I was afraid of high altitude but when we were finished with the trip my phobia for heights was completely gone, this is also showcased as after the trip I also did bungee jump which I would have never imagined to do because of my phobia. Also the shoes that I had bought did not had much grip which resulted in a very hard climb in snow as the was fresh but at the same time melting because of global warming. This made my legs very sore and I was unable to run, even walk fastly which resulted in 1 day bed rest.
LO4: Show commitment to and perseverance in CAS experiences
Commitment and perseverance were integral part of the CAS experience, as it enabled me to extend myself, and climb up the almost vertical, snow capped mountains. Whenever we tried to climb the snow capped mountains, I fell in the snow, therefore we had to keep climbing up as fast as possible and for that we had to show a complete dedication as climbing it fast was very hard due to the high level of steepness to reach to the pangarchulla peak. Mental commitment was really necessary in order to complete the climb.
LO5: Demonstrate the skills and recognize the benefits of working collaboratively
The distance from the peak point and main mountain was a 1000 meters that too very steep and deep snow capped. After approx 850 meters, my legs started felling very sore and I got tired a lot, as it was only 150 meters more my friends and the groups members decided to motivate me a lot. If it wouldn’t had for them I would have never reached to the peak.
LO7: Recognize and consider the ethics of choices and actions
The main trekking was for 5 days and 4 nights, we had to carry our packed lunch which was given by the group everyday in the morning and we had to eat them in the of our trek some on the mountain. This is where ethics come in, after we had eaten our packed lunch, we had to keep 1 thing in mind that we were supposed to collect all the garbage every singe day and throw them in 1 big paper bag. We as group also had to keep in mind to not setup a campfire as it would have disturbed the nature and the ecosystem of that mountain.
