Support Kuntal Joisher for his Everest Attempt

Support Kuntal Joisher for his Everest Attempt

Mountaineer Kuntal Joisher is attempting Everest this Spring(Apr/May,2015)

 

Born in Mumbai, India, Kuntal Joisher first began dreaming of climbing Mt. Everest seventeen years ago. As a boy, he was no stranger to the great outdoors spending summers in quaint villages nestled deep in the valleys of the Himalaya. But, before he started scaling massive peaks, Joisher was busy climbing the professional ladder as a computer scientist. Receiving his first of two degrees from one of the premier colleges in Mumbai, Joisher later received his Master’s degree in Computer Science from the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. However, after years of success in the IT industry, Joisher was ready for another kind of fulfillment. With the mountains still in his blood, Joisher had an epiphany while on a hike through the Himalaya with his wife, Dipti – it was time to see his dream of standing on top of the world finally realized. For over six years, Joisher has been intensely training for his Mt. Everest summit. In July 2011, he summited his first 20,000-foot mountain in the Trans Himalayan cold desert of Ladakh, India, where he also traversed frozen rivers and braved temperatures sinking to -30C. He’s also taken part in several international expeditions to mountains in the Indian and Nepal Himalaya, and trained at the mountain training school in Chile’s Patagonia. We first got acquainted with Kuntal Joisher when he came to Ladakh to climb Mt. Kun (7077m) with us in Aug, 2012. Although the weather Gods didn’t let the team go up any further than Camp 2, it didn’t dampen Kuntal’s spirits who returned again in 2013 for another attempt. Even that was short-lived since he had to return immediately since his father was seriously ill. But, he came back at the end of the Ladakh season to join us on a climb to Mentok Kangri.  Kuntal did summit that and raced up Chamser Kangri in the vicinity with the support crew.  His thirst for climbing was unquenchable and we could see signs of that growing love for mountains and mountaineering from those days itself. 2013 turned out to be a great year for Kuntal as he summited four 20,000-foot mountains, one of which was a virgin peak in a remote valley in Ladakh. In Spring- 2014, Kuntal decided to take the big leap and signed up for climbing Everest (8850m). But the killer avalanche on the Khumbu icefall which led to the demise of 16 Sherpas wrapped up the Everest climbing season totally and his plans had to be shelved. Not to be stopped, Kuntal shifted his eyes to our Mt. Elbrus trip in Russia in June, 2014. In October 2014, Joisher became only the second Indian civilian, and the first Vegan in the world to stand on top of Mt. Manaslu, the eighth highest mountain in the world at 27,000 feet. Joisher can be found in the Western Ghats mountain range on the weekends, encouraging others to join him on his treks, as he trains for the ultimate test in April/May 2015 - Mt. Everest. Apart from his passion for Mountaineering, Kuntal is also a keen photographer, Marathon runner and has been spreading awareness about Dementia.   His father has been suffering from Lewy Body Dementia (LBD), a progressive and incurable condition from 2001. Joisher educated himself about LBD, to be able to communicate with his father.  It has been challenging, but Joisher and his family emerged stronger, as they came to terms with his father's condition. Joisher has transformed a personal adversity into an opportunity to become an unwavering voice for Dementia awareness. 'I’m very passionate about increasing awareness about dementia, encouraging lifestyle changes to delay the onset of the disease and supporting dementia cure research,” Joisher says. Combining life’s passions for his family and the mountains, Joisher is ready to take on an adventure he’ll never forget. And when he stands on Top of the World in May 2015, Joisher would become one of the first Vegans in the World to do so. Joisher has been a Vegan for over 12 years, and attributes his strong performance on the mountains to a healthy Vegan diet and lifestyle. Over the years, Kuntal has become a dear friend and we have tried to support him in his climbing endeavours. This time, it is back to Everest which had eluded him last time. He will be starting on his 65 day adventure by this month end. From December, Kuntal has been running around raising money from sponsors for his Climb. He is still a little short and we are here to pitch in and extend support to Kuntal, a Mountaineer in his quest to climb the Mt. Everest. We earnestly request your help too in helping our dear friend achieve his dream. Funds can be directed to our White Magic Foundation account which has been created specifically for all our Social initiatives.

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