Diary of Gurpreet Dhindsa : Life changing adventures

Woodland's Adventure Ambassador, Gurpreet Dhindsa, looks back at his first truly adventurous moment  at Kaloi Glacier in Kashmir and falling in love with adventure thereon. Read on:

Gurpreet:
"I had a different childhood. Being from the defence services family, we spent most of my childhood moving every year along the small towns or villages along the border. We grew up in an environment with more outdoor adventures than kids to play with.

While I can’t really point towards a singular event that turned me towards adventure sports, when I look back, one incident in particular stands out.

In 1988, while pursuing my B.Sc (Honours) in Amritsar, I was doing small treks regularly. That's when I decided to go trekking to Kaloi Glacier in Kashmir along with the younger brother of a friend.

Back then there had been massive floods in Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Punjab and our trek turned out to be quite eventful with lots of bad weather. We endured most of the conditions sitting in a small tent at a high altitude. We not only reached the glacier and but also climbed the Kaloi peak!

Later, due to a series of events, I ended up giving my boots to my friend and climbed from glacier to peak in a pair of simple running shoes. While I personally didn't think much of it, a group of Germans climbing at same time made big fuss about it and we were treated like special guests at the base camp that night.

We had an equally interesting return as the road back to Punjab was washed away at few places. We continued to hike our way back home as we thought it was better than waiting in Srinagar to be airlifted. Despite of circumstances, we reached intact and in time to the pleasant surprise of everyone, especially my friend's family!

That experience taught me a lot. While handing over my friend's brother to his family meant quite a relief, it also marked the end of an adventure for me. That is when I realised how much I had enjoyed this tough journey and living on the edge.

The feeling of making life and death decisions, of braving weather and hardships, to feel the power of nature and strength of human body to endure and adapt: I believe it was at this moment when I truly fell in love with adventure."