Harish, trainer and expedition leader.

From the city to a home in the mountains

In May 2021, Lipika and Harish came to Manali from Delhi for a 45-day vacation. That November they left their corporate careers and set off for the hills.

In Burwa, with B, they started a homestay, a cafe and a fitness studio. That home is Ara.

Today Harish trains people at Ara, in group classes and one-to-one, and leads them up: treks, expeditions and ultra-fast day hikes, across Himachal and Ladakh.

The person who trains you is the person who takes you up.

A practical, adaptable approach

Ara’s fitness area is a compact, well-used space for movement rather than a large commercial gym. It has yoga mats, weights, parallettes, a dip bar, yoga blocks, foam rollers and resistance bands. Harish uses the equipment available to build sessions around each person, their experience and their goals.

The focus is on learning to move with control and building useful strength, not on making every session look the same.