High Mountain Institute

Semester

Semester 44: 1st Expedition

Written by: Dylan, Maple, Sam L, Annabelle, & Eloise Group A, led by Barrett and Erik, began their expedition with a seven hour drive through the dramatically changing landscape of Utah and Colorado. Setting up their tarps at the end of the drive, with Jacob’s Chair towering in the distance, everyone had a certain sense […]

Semester

Semester 43: Final Days

Written by: Brandon, Mae, Kendall, Julia T. This past week has been a busy but fun final week of academics! Time was split between finishing up final projects and apprentices teaching their units. After a busy weekend, I submitted a final essay for my English class on our course text, Ceremony. I had a creative

hmi gap, adventure and conservation, patagonia national park, backpacking
Gap

HMI Gap: Saying Good-bye

Written by: Pearl Just two days ago, HMI Gap fall semesters came to a close. At the end of every HMI program, students do a Solo, during which they write their Full Circle, a reflection exercise to consider what they want to carry forward with them. One of our students, Pearl, wrote the following poem

hmi gap, adventure and conservation, patagonia national park, backpacking
Gap

HMI Gap: Four Seasons in Three Weeks

Written by: Kevin Sun and Jack Viergever Hello from Chile Chico, the cuidad del sol! We’ve just come off of our 21-day expedition in the Patagonia wild. We’ve hiked through forests, marshes, mountains and many rivers during our time in the backcountry these past few weeks. The group started our journey on a blue bird

HMI gap, adventure and conservation, backpacking, patagonia national park, gap year
Gap

Gap: Traditions of Patagonia

Written by: Josh and Laria I’ve been horizontal for 11 hours and caught about 5 hours of sleep. The wind has been assaulting our “tent” for about 14 hours. It’s a good thing Flynn was running around all night keeping the tent on the ground, or it would been long gone. I deglaze my eyes

Semester

Semester 43: Back on Campus

Written by: Montana, Ian, Leilani, & Chace This week in HMI academics, our studies took us from the base of Mount Elbert to America’s revolutionary past. In English class, we continued our reading and discussion of Ceremony, a novel about a Native American veteran struggling to heal from the trauma of war with the help

HMI Gap, sport climbing, moab, adventure and conservation, climbing stewardship
Gap

Gap: Building Trails and Building Skills

Written by: Flynn and Haley Hello from snowy Leadville! We just arrived back after a pleasant month spent under the desert sun. Since our last blog post, we recently spent 4 days working with the Front Range Climbing Stewards to improve the Scarface Wall approach trail in Indian Creek. Despite temperatures getting to the single

HMI Gap, canyon, backpacking, Bear's Ears, canyoneering, adventure and conservation
Gap

Gap: The Luxuries of Base-camping and the Intricacies of the Canyons

Part One: Enjoying Base Camping’s Little Luxuries Written by: Ky and Pearl This past week has been exceptional. We feel a lot more connected as a unit and to our environment. There were tons of new and exciting memories made. The I-team helped us get through it all. One of our highlights for the week

Semester

Semester 43: 2nd Expedition

Written by: Jack, Zack, Rory, & Lucas Group A: After a month of classes on campus, we traveled back into the backcountry. During the day, the warm air of the desert made us sweaty and tired and during the night we piled on layers like you have never seen. The first night was so cold

Gap

Gap: Sublime Sandstone Climbing

Written by: Lia and Emma Hello from Utah!  Our group has spent the last week camping and learning how to crack climb in Indian Creek, Utah–which is home to some of the best crack climbing in the world. For the majority of the group climbing cracks is a new skill that has been exciting to

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