The Fall Semester in the Himalaya takes place over 80 days and four sections — whitewater, culture, trekking, and mountaineering — across some of the most remote and geographically varied terrain in India. If you want to truly immerse yourself in a place rather than pass through it, this is the semester for you.

You’ll meet your instructors in New York City before traveling together to the NOLS India base in Ranikhet, a quiet wooded town at 6,150 feet in the stunning Kumaon hills. This will be your home base, returning between sections throughout the semester.

Admiring the Himalaya while hiking in India’s countryside

A 3-day Wilderness First Aid (WFA) certification starts the course before you head into the field. Twelve days of hiking takes you through the Pindari Valley past villages where water buffalo-powered agriculture and high-altitude shepherd migrations are still part of daily life. Sixteen days on the upper Kali River — which forms the border between India and Nepal — covers paddle strokes, river hazard, and rescue techniques by oar rig and raft, moving through tropical jungle and past terraced farms and sandy beaches.

Rafting India’s famed Kali River

A 12-day cultural homestay in Majkhali places you with a local family — sharing meals, taking on household work, and learning about forest use, farming, and alpine ecology alongside your coursemates.

High camp during the mountaineering section of a Fall Semester in the Himalaya

The semester ends with a 32-day mountaineering expedition through the Kumaon Himalaya — glacier travel, ice axe use, rope systems, and peak ascent up to 19,000 feet — with the possibility of a multi-day independent student expedition if your group is ready. You’ll leave with technical skills across four disciplines and a depth of cultural understanding that no other semester offers.