Tata Steel flagged off the Indian Women’s Expedition to Kharta Valley in Tibet, beginning on Sunday. Bachendri Pal, the living legend in mountaineering and chief of Tata Steel Adventure Foundation (TSAF), will lead the seven-member all women’s team .The trekking into the beautiful Kharta valley is one of the most unusual and interesting approaches of expedition. The team will begin the expedition on September 14th, 2014 and will continue their journey till October 9.
The seven women contingent from various States in India include Premlata Agarwal from Jharkhand (first Indian woman to climb all the 7 highest summits in 7 continents), Chetna Sahoo from West Bengal, Jyoti Sharma from New Delhi, Tanu Verma from New Delhi, Sheetal Sangeeta Ekka from Jharkhand, Madhvi Sharma from Uttrakhand, and Anita Vaidya from Gujarat.
Speaking on the expedition Bachendri Pal said, “Tata Steel has always believed in empowering women to realise and unleash their true potential. The women in the expedition come from diverse background.It is going to be challenging and learning experience for all of us to trek the Kharta Valley. Such challenging and adventurous expeditions are an opportunity for women to realise their potential and serve as strong building blocks for the communities at large.”
Excited for yet another adventure expedition, Sunil Bhaskaran, vice-president, Corporate Services, Tata Steel, said, “We at Tata Steel are proud of initiating the ‘All women expedition to Kharta Valley’. We wish the team for their success and wonderful journey ahead. TSAF has been a strong guiding force behind such unique expeditions; this is yet another step towards empowering women to realize their potential. We are confident that the grit, determination and courage of these women will set an example for others.”
In keeping with its commitment to ‘Women Empowerment’, Tata Steel has always supported the cause of adventure through several TSAF expeditions - In 1993, the Indo-Nepalese Indian Women’s Everest Expedition, first all-women expedition from India, was organized; the 10-member Indian Women’s Expedition to Mt Imjatse (Island Peak) 20,300ft, in the Everest region; the Indian Women’s Thar Desert Safari 2007 was a camel safari covering 2,000km along the international border from Bhuj in Gujarat to Wagah in Punjab, via the Rann of Kutch, which got recognition from the limca Book of Records.
To commemorate 100 years of Tata Steel, the first Indo-African All Women Expedition was organized to Mt Killimanjaro 19,335ft, in 2008. Few months back, Arunima Sinha supported by Tata Steel became the first woman amputee to summit Mt. Everest.