I have been fond of trekking since my childhood and have done independent treks with my father without experts’ assistance whenever we vacation in mountain regions. Hence I chose these activities for my CAS experience. In this experience, I did mountaineering activities like rock climbing, rappelling, caving, and trekking in the Aravalli Range of mountains with my friends.

LO1(Identify own strengths and develop areas for growth)-

Since I have done many treks in the past, I had some self-learned knowledge about mountaineering and could do almost all the activities independently. However, the experts that were on the trip with us taught us a lot of things that I didn’t know many of. This new knowledge helped me in activities like rock climbing and rappelling which was my weakness in science I had never done them before.

LO2(Demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills)-

The trekking and caving activities were easy for me however rock climbing and rappelling seemed challenging at first. However, I observed the expert do it and learned quickly from watching him. This experience helped me discover that I have the skill for rock climbing and rappelling and I am glad I was able to learn the basics of it on my first attempt. However, there is still a lot I can learn to improve this new skill.

LO4(Show perseverance and commitment in CAS experience)-

The treks were quite long(11km and 6km) and all the activities were done every day, one after the other hence I had to show perseverance and commit to all the activities. I have a habit of daily physical activity hence I was able to commit myself to these activities.

LO5(Demonstrate skills and benefits of working collaboratively)-

I worked with the experts and my friends to do all the activities. I had to be a good listener and work in sync with the experts and even with my friends. I helped some of my friends who were doing the activities for the first time and we looked out for each other on dangerous sections of the treks. Hence working in unison was an advantage and was a win-win for everyone.

Learner profile attributes I demonstrated-

Communicators: Communicating with experts and friends to understand how to do certain activities and help my friends do them.

Risk-taker: Taking calculated risks while doing the activities.

The activities were a great way for me to learn new skills and develop already existing ones. I had a lot of fun especially because I was with my friends. The collaborative efforts, helping each other out, and learning new things about the wilderness and survival was great experience.