Author: GGIM Institute

Embassy of India along with Finnish Indian Society and other regional associations has been organizing India day for last 2 years as one day event showcasing many facets of India’s art, culture, cuisine , handicrafts, Ayurveda and other aspects to the people of Finland.  In last 2 editions the event was held in an indoor premises (Cable factory) in Helsinki and saw the participation of 4000-5000 guests. India Day/Intia Päivä is a great event. This year was the edition of India day event on a much larger scale at a very popular and centrally located venue Kaisaniemi park which is just next to central railway station of Helsinki with an estimated audience of over 7000+. 

With the efforts of one of the Directors of GGIM, Shri. Avinash Foujdar, one promotional stall was run by GGIM. GGIM has developed unique Adventure Education programmes which can be offered to the people from all over world who are visiting India for some or the other reason. Many adventure and travel enthusiasts visited the GGIM information desk and got introduced to the activities run by GGIM. 

Udaan is the last level of ANU curriculum. In Udaan, there are only handful of students. At the end of the Udaan program, we hope to see them become a responsible trekker equipped with outdoor skills, knowledge, sound fitness, and having good leadership skills.

Here is an example of an upcoming sound, responsible and all round trekker. Sharing with you a report presented by on of the Udaan students: Omkar Oak.

Ahupe Gorakhgad 18-19 August 2018 trek report by: Omkar suhas Oak
Starting point: Ahupe
Distance from Pune: 133 km
We had breakfast at Mansar.
We started from Ahupe at 9:30 am. We cross a small pond and then started
going downhill the Ahupe ghat. We crossed various streams as it was the rainy season.

We reached the base of Ahupe ghat in 2 & half hours. Reaching the base we
could see Gorakhgad and Machinndragad to our left. we cross a river with help of rope at around 12 noon.

Then we again crossed a small rivulet of the same river and we going to start lunch when it started raining heavily. Then we had dry snacks and started towards Gorakshanath mandir. After an effort of about 1.5 hours steep climb in damp and humid conditions we reached the temple sweating and buried in rain.

When you reach the Gorakshnath mandir ask very politely for the night’s stay. Keep your footwear outside the temple. There is facility of water and fire in the temple and place enough for about 25 people. Do not disturb the pujaris and
participate in the Aarti at night and in the morning. We slept around 9:30 pm after cooking diner. The next day we woke up a little late at 6:30 am. Then prepared tea and ate the yesterday’s remaining khicidi. We started towards Gorakhgad at 8:30 am. We
reached the base of Gorakhgad in just 10 minutes. There is a temple of hanuman at the base. Then we climbed the first patch witout rope till the darwaja. There are steps but they are slippery due to algae and are very steep. So after the darwaja we fixed one rope. Then another till we reached the caves. 

From there we can see Machinndragad.

ANU (Avhaan Nirmaan Udaan) GGIM's adventure educational programme for school kids, has been taking shape in Mumbai also. It has been three treks of Avhaan Mumbai and 15  kids are regularly participating in Sahyadri treks and undergoing interesting adventure training in every trek. 

The third trek was to Fort Karnala. Experienced mountaineer and recipient of Maharashtra's highest sports award, ShivChhatrapati Award led these bunch of enthusiastic kids. She was accompanied by Ritu Chawla, Jayant Wakode.  Senior climber and one of the greatest Sahyadri explorer Mr. Dhanajay Madan (Appa) also accompanied the kids. During this trek the kids were introduced to mountaineering rope, special knots used during various activities, and learnt about interesting features of Sahyadri. Having now completed three consecutive treks, kids are becoming stronger, and confident to take on tougher challenges in future. 

We hope that they climb from one adventure to another with spirit and enthusiasm. 

GGIM's conducted Mt. Stok Kangri Expedition in Leh region. It is one of the most famous trekking expeditions in India. It is 6153 m high and requires good fitness level and some prior experience & high altitude trekking. 

Giripremi's one of the senior most mountaineers, Dr. Sumit Mandale, led two groups of well trained GGIM members to Stok Kangri Expedition. earlier in July, one batch successfully climbed made it to the top. In Aug, another batch arrived and along with Sumit, 5 members out of 12, summitted to the mountain. 

Team Members:

Dr. Sumit mandale (Leader)

GGIM started Mt. Elbrus Expedition in Aug 2016. Since then, this was the third consecutive successful expedition to Mt. Elbrus.Situated in Russia, Caucasus range, Mt. Elbrus is the highest mountain of Europe continent. It is also one of the seven summits. This year, GGIM`s one of the strongest mountaineers, Dinesh Kotkar, led the group of three members: Rohini Upasani, Aliasgar Parekh, and Yash Muchhalla. The team departed from India on 31st July 2018. They did three acclimatization treks in Elbrus region of Baksan valley and on 4th Aug 2018, reached the base camp at barrels (South side route). After spending a day acclimatizing on the slopes of Elbrus, team made it to the summit on 6th. All 4 of them along with local guide Viktor Komarichev, reached the summit. 

GGIM Congratualates to all the summitters and wish good luck for future mountainous challenges!!  

There were 4 different activities planned to 4 different destinations. Avhaan's Trek was planned to Fort Rohida; while, Avhaan Advance Trek happened at Chandan Vandan.  Nirmaan kids completed famous Katraj-Sinhagad endurance testing trek and Nirmaan Advance kids trekked to Raireshwar - Kenjalgad.  

More than 150 kids trekked on 5th Aug 2018 to these 4 different locations. 

Giripremi team comprised of Vivek Shivade (leader), Priyanka Chinchorkar (deputy leader), Varun Bhagwat, Amit Talwalkar, Krishna Dhokle, Jitendra Gaware, Saiyami Takale, Anjali Katre, and Rohan Desai successfully summitted Mt. Cathedral, (5890 m) in Bara Shigri (Glacier) of Himachal Pradesh in Spiti Region on 6th Aug 2018. 

Team had been meticulously training and preparing for the expedition for past 6 months. The group had a diversity in experience. Vivek Shivade, having a prior experience of climbing 7-8 peaks and having led expeditions like Mt. CB 13, Mt Elbrus, Mt. Kilimanjaro, led this expedition. Giripremi’s  Everest Summitter Krishna Dhokle, who had summitted Mt. Elbrus, Mt. Hanuman Tibba, Mt. Shrikantha, was also part of the team. Priyanka Chinchorkar, was on her Giripremi’s first expedition but before that she had summitted Mt. Spangnak Ri in Leh region and was a member of Gangotri I expedition. Along with Vivek, Krishna, and Priyanka, team had six new talented mountaineers: Jitendra Gaware, Varun Bhagwat, Rohan Desai, Anjali Katre, Saiyami Takale, and Amit Talwalkar. 

The success of this expedition shall provide vital boost for upcoming Giripremi`s Mt. Kangchenjunga expedition in Apr - May 2019

4th August 2018 - 

It was one of the team outings for the employees of Sandvik at Mantra Resorts, Bhor. Around 75 employees had gathered at the auditorium and Mr. Umesh Zirpe, Founder Director- GGIM, Awardee of Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Award and leader of Giripremi's Six 8000 meter expeditions along with Mr. Bhushan Harshe, Head-Operations GGIM and Everester of Giripremi were invited for delivering the motivational talk to the gathering. 

Umesh and Bhushan shared their journey of Mt. Everest in year 2012 and 2013 and the audience was stunned to hear there experiences and to watch the mesmerizing photographs of the highest mountain of the world Mt. Everest. The talk focused on the aspects like team spirit and leadership. The key take away message for the listeners  was "If every team member thinks that not only myself but all my teammates should achieve the Goal then no Goal is impossible". The session was concluded with the vote of thanks from the Mr. Yuvaraj and the felicitation of Bhushan and Umesh.