Himalayan Mountaineering Institute | May you climb from Peak to Peak
Himalayan Mountaineering Institute is a prime place where the training for climbing several peaks of the world is mentored. This proud institute stands aloof than all and is a must visit place in Darjeeling where one can gain a lot of knowledge, enjoy various activities and witness an inspiring arena.
This institute was established in order to commemorate
the successful ascent of Mount Everest by Mr. Tenzin Norgay Sherpa in the year
1953 accompanied with Sir Edmund Hillary. The foundation stone of HMI was laid
by the first Prime Minister of India, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru on 4th
November, 1954. This institute was constructed with a mission to encourage the
mountain climbers and teach them the skills required for the same. Being the
bestmountaineering institute of South East Asia, it is also known as ‘Mecca of
Indian Mountaineering’.
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| tenzing sherpa |
Mr. Tenzin Norgay Sherpa was the first director of Field Training in HMI.At present HMI conducts a variety of mountaineering and adventure courses which are rigorous and provides the trainees an opportunity for developing their skills in mountain climbing and has a vision to cultivate a spirit of adventure in each student.All the courses are designed to instill the sagacity of amity, discipline, selflessness and concern for environment protection.
Location
HMI is located at an attitude of 7,000 ft. (2150 mts.)
approx. at Birch Hill (Jawahar Parvat) within the premises of the zoo. It is 85
kms from the Bagdogra airport. The railway junction, New Jalpaiguri Station is
also at the same distance and it is connected with all the major cities and
town of the country. It is around 3 kms away from the busy Darjeeling town.
COURSES OFFERED
Adventure Course – 15 days for teenagers and adults. It provides trekking, camping, rock
craft and water sports.
Basic Course –
28 days for the adults. It empowers an individual to participate in any
expedition up to the heights of 7000 meters or there about. It’s a stepping
stone to the world of rock, snow and ice climbing.
Advance Course –
28 days duration for the adults. It provides advanced training and experience
of climbing an actual mountain in an expedition led by supervisors and
instructors. Rescue operations and their techniques are a crucial part of this
course.
Search and Rescue - This course is specialized in search and rescue operations skills on rock, snow and ice along with their involvement in the use of first aid, mountain navigation, radio telephony, audio visual communication signals and evacuation methods including use of helicopters.
Instructors –
Only the advanced course with ‘A’ grade can pursue for this course who aim to
take mountaineering as their career. It is a 28 days duration course. It trains
them to improve their instructional capabilities enabling them to impart
mountaineering lessons confidently and act as a guide as well.
Special Course –
It involves special courses on sports climbing, rock climbing, adventure and
mountaineering courses on demand. Sport climbing courses are very popular among
the young children from grades 4 to 9 during their vacations.
Course for the Visually Challenged and Under
Privileged Sections of Society–HMI
is the sole institution that provides special adventure courses for visually
challenged persons and underprivileged sections of the society. Along with the
basic rock climbing they can be taken for the higher altitude trekking as well.
Rock Climbing – Designed for teenagers to adults this course offers big rock climbing techniques to be learned and applied. It enhances the self-confidence and inculcates a sense of achievement.
Short – Term Adventure Course – This is for 3-5 days specialized for individual,
group, schools, tourists, corporates etc. The activities involved in this are
Rock Climbing, Camping, Trekking, Adventure Film Show, Obstacle Race and many
more. The participants are awarded certificates on the completion of this
course.
Mountaineering Refresher Course–This is a course for those who want to refresh or
hone their mountaineering skills before major expeditions. They are directly
taken to the practical field training for rock climbing on natural/artificial
surface, rock craft, snow craft etc.
Contact
The office of HMI may be
contacted over phone in 0354-225-4087 or +91 – 7602215312 (Training Office) and
via mail in hmidarj@gmail.com.
HMI’s official you tube channel is https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcRnqXGncbCDdiuw4yJBoVA
Official website – www.hmidarjeeling.com
Ideal Time to Visit
HMI can be visited at any time of the year. The
temperature remains within 20°C to 26°C highest
and 10°C to 5°C to its lowest.
Timings and Ticket Price
It remains open from 8:30 AM – 4:30 PM during the
summer season and 8:30 AM to 4 PM during winters.
HMI remains CLOSED on Thursdays.
Ticket Price – The ticket is inclusive of zoo and HMI
that is located in the extended area of the zoo. The combined price of the
ticket is Rs. 110 for Indians and SAARC countries. Children below 6 years old are exempted. An additional
amount of Rs. 10/- is charged for those carrying cameras.
Ticket price for the activities like zip line costs
Rs. 80/- and combined with Tree Walk is Rs. 210/- per head. The ticket counter
for these activities is available in HMI next to the activity area.
How to reach here?
Shared cabs are available from the Darjeeling bus
stand or the main market in Rs. 20/- per head. It will take about 15 minutes to reach to the
entrance of the zoo and from there it would be a walk of almost 15 minutes
inside till you reach the entrance of HMI.
Just below the zoo there is Lebong Cart Road where the
cars can be parked. For this roadside, one can take a 4-5 minutes uphill walk
to reach to the entrance gate.
One can also take the pleasure of walking for about 30
minutes from the Mall Road till the zoo entrance of the zoo and then a walk of
almost 15 minutes inside till you reach the entrance of HMI.
ATTRACTION OF HMI
As we enter the gate of HMI we can see people enjoying
the thrilling activities. The colorful scenarios win everyone’s heart. It
excites to know about the activities and participate in it.
ZIP-LINE
This is an action filled recreational activity that
one can enjoy in HMI. There is s short track of zip-line butit is still very
famous and enthralling. It is popular with the young ones particularly. Long
pants or capris would be an ideal wear in order to enjoy this activity as the
gear can be put easily while preparing to experience it. There are trained
professionals to help the performers wear the safety gear that has climbing
harness, helmet and carabiner. There is a trained professional on each end of
the point. There are two-levels of green net so that any sort of fall can be
handled well. One feels fully secured to enjoy this adventure without any
doubts.
TREE WALK – Tree-top Rope Course
This is an amazing outdoor adventure activities for
adults that travellers can perform, play and ride. This Tree Top Walk consists
of 11 obstacles. The difficulty level of obstacle varies from simple, moderate
to difficult. Tourists including children above 7 years old can enjoy this. It
includes Tunnel Crossing, Dangling Crossing Bridge, Block Crossing, Rope Swing
Bridge and other obstacles. These obstacles are spread over a 50-meter area
from tree to tree. This activity encourages individuals to overcome fear and
react bravely in time of distress.
The colorful obstacles are placed 15-20 feet above the
ground level and operated by qualified instructors and certified safety
equipment. Safety line anchors have been installed for proper management.
MUSUEM
This museum was established in the year 1957 with an
objective of facilitating educational activities on mountaineering and
preserving the original belongings of the legendary mountaineers. It is the
oldest mountaineering museum of India. It is a live documentation of this
Institute that has presented a number of achievers till date and inspires many
more. The building is two-storeyed. Ground floor has the lobby area and
help-counter. It has two sections – Mountaineering History and A Panorama of
Himalayan Life.
Mountaineering History –This section has a large
display of the prominent peaks of Himalayan Range, glaciers and rivers in a
relief model. It also has the relics related to the evolution of climbing
techniques and equipment used in climbing, flags, badges of honour, medals and
monograms of various Alpine clubs from all across the world.
A Panorama of Himalayan Life – There is a section name
‘Equipment in Vogue’ that exhibits equipment like ice axe/hammer, night
apparel, boots etc. The samples of rock, minerals and photographs detailing the
lifestyle, attire and religion of the people living in the Himalayan region are
displayed along with some birds and animals found at that time in that
particular region such as Himalayan Crow, Red Legged Partridge, flying
squirrel, snow fox etc. The Veb Carl Zeiss telescope can be seen which was
presented by Adolf Hitler to Shamsher Junga Bahadur Rana. Later on it was
passed on to the generations and later on was gifted to HMI on 7th
July, 1961.
The first floor has been fully dedicated to the Mount
Everest and Mount Makalu expedition.
Mount Makalu Section –Large pictures depicting the
legendary mountaineers with their team are hung all over. It also exhibits
Mount Makalu expedition items like sleeping bags, altitude socks, caps, jackets
etc.
Mount Everest Section – The timeline of summit and expedition of the world’s highest peak – Mount Everest has been well demonstrated in this section. The documentation of the declaration of Mount Everest as the highest peak by Shri RadhaNathSikder of Survey of India and naming by the then Surveyor General of India George Everest has been placed here. The chronological account of attempts made at the Everest since 1852. The most attractive section is where the personal gears and clothing of Tenzing Norgay like ice-axe, jackets, gloves, cap etc. are displayed. There is a picture that has an eagle found dead at an altitude of 26,000 foot during the 1960 Everest expedition.
There are many life size photographs that depicts the
real time pictures of mountaineers like Tenzing Norgay Sherpa, Sir Edmund
Hillary, NawangGompu Sherpa, Banchendri Pal, Major N.D. Jayal, Ang Kami,
NimaTashi, DorjeeLhatoo and many others.
SOUVENIR SHOP
As we descend from the exit of the museum we can find
two souvenir shops, one on the right and the other on the left. The left shop
has the artworks, embroidered clothes and showpieces. The right souvenir shop
has everything that has HMI labeled on it.
The items that may be bought from here are Acrylic glass HMI memento,
Balaclava , Belts, Wallets, T-Shirts
with HMI monogram ,Bags, Jackets , Pants, Embroidered T-Shirts, Socks, Head
Lamps, Thermals, Institute Journals ,Key
Chains, Jungle Boots, Label Pins, Institute Monograms ,DVD Sets, Printed Mugs,
Notebooks, Picture Slates, Track Suit, Sunglasses, Ties, Wall Clock, Water
Bottle, Winter Gloves and many more. These items are available online as well
in the website of HMI.
CAFETERIA
The premise hasa wide cafeteria which has a great
place to dine. It serves all type of light snacks, Tibetan and Chinese items
and larger meals. Beverages such as cold drinks, juices, tea and coffee are
available in plenty. There is an ice cream parlor just beside the restaurant,
too.
PHOTOGRAPHY SECTION
In this section the tourists can dress up in
traditional attire of the Eastern Himalayas and click photos. They get the
photographs within few moments and carry it as a memory.
Prime Visitors
The National and International Tourists are the major
visitors of this institute. A lot of students visit for educational tours and
excursions. It is also a hub of budding mountaineers of the country.
Cleanliness and Maintenance
The entire area of HMI is well maintained by the
authorities. Washrooms are kept clean and regularly washed.The dustbins are
placed at every bend so that the cleanliness in well maintained by the
tourists.
This institute is jointly maintained by the Government
of India and West Bengal. It is governed by and Executive Council (EC) headed by the Defence Minister as its
President and Chief Minister of West Bengal as Vice President. Representatives
of various ministries both at the centre and the state government are the
members of the executive council.
Conclusion
Himalayan Mountaineering Institute, HMI, Darjeeling is
the premier mountaineering institute of the country. Establishment of HMI has flagged
the way for mountaineering to be treated as an organised form of sport in the
country. This has a fundamentalcharacter in the campaigning of mountaineering
in India and bringing India in the realm of global mountaineering map. Headed
by the officers of Indian Armed Forces the Institute has always maintained a
distinct and democratic process in terms of its training and administration. It
is a great charm to pay a visit to this place and get enlightened by the
precious wing of adventure.
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