Meet the Team of Scott Go Green Girls 2014 (Part 1)

Vasumathi Srinivasan – Bangalore 
Vasumathi is one of the senior most active mountaineers from the state of Karnataka. She is Vice President of Karnataka Mountaineering Association, the oldest mountaineering association in South India. Vasu is a 2-time Limca Book of Records holder for (a) being part of the first mother daughter team to climb a peak in India together and (b) being part of the first team of women to cross the Thar Desert on camel back.

A highly dynamic lady, she has multiple hobbies apart from being an avid mountaineer and mountaineering instructor and adventurer.. she is a painter, squash player and referee and a great cook… She has been an athlete in her younger days and has represented the state for many years… She has many achievements to list, and two of them are as below:
- Created History by leading the First Army Ladies Mountaineering Exp. to Mt Kulu Pumori (21,500 ft) in 1996.
- She lead the first Dogra Ladies Mountaineering Expedition to Mt Ibex (20,400ft) in the Kinnaur Region.

She has spent her life believing and proving that women can achieve anything that they put their mind to.. it is a pleasure to watch her play squash or trekking.. she puts the men and younger girls to shame :)

Krishna Thakur – Manali
Krishna was part of GGG 2011 and when she joined us on that expedition, she did not know how to cycle! She sat on the cycle for the first time on the day before the expedition began and has been cycling since. Highly inspirational to see how hard working she is on any expedition. I have never heard her say she is tired or that she will not do anything that has been assigned to her.

Krishna has been a part of more than 11 mountaineering expeditions. She freelances as a mountaineering instructor as well as snow skiing and grass skiing instructor.

Premila Shetty - Bangalore
Free lance makeup artist and volunteers in an NGO to empower underprivileged children with education. I met her for the first time when she came along on a high altitude trek in Manali and it was very impressed with all the things she does – Running, Cycling, Trekking, Photography, Kick Boxing. She has been running marathons for the past 2 years and has taken part in cyclethons.
She is also a great photographer and is the official visual record keeper of the expedition.

Gangotri Indumati - Baroda
I heard about Pharmacognocy for the first time when I met her and she has an M.Sc. Degree in it. Not only that, she is a qualifies Clinical Psychologist and Counselor, a Hypnotherapist and Life Skills Trainer as well as an Educationalist.

In the midst of all this, she also has time for mountaineering and other adventure activities. She is a pioneer woman mountaineer from Gujarat, has climbed around 12 peaks and led 3 expeditions (her son joined her in one of them as well). She has certifications in yoga, swimming, first aid and water safety courses and is also a rock climbing instructor. And then, she has also learned dance.

She is a pleasure to talk to and it was great to have her with us on GGG1 as well. Looking forward to being with her again.

Soni Shah – Nainital 
The most talkative of the group, every bubbly and waiting to crack a joke. She is a national judge for Sport wall climbing,qualified as a Wilderness First Responder from NOLS, qualified Mountain Guide, Mountaineer and a Parasailer.
Apart from this she also has time to head a NGO, REAL, which promotes adventure sports and she's also worked in medical support on quite a few programs. She is also an associate member of the Indian Mountaineering Foundation. She's been a part of quite a few mountaineering expeditions and has also done 2 cycling expeditions – one from Kolkata to Kanyakumari and the other around Uttrakhand.

Bimla Negi Deoskar – Nagpur 
Bimla Didi as we fondly call her, is a senior mountaineer of India and the recipient of the First National Adventure Award – 1994. She was a member of the Indo-Nepalese Women Everest Expedition in 1993 and climbed to a height of 22.500 ft. A leader loved by all. She has led countless expeditions in her lifetime. She recently led a team of women to climg Bhagirathi 2. This was during the big floods that destroyed Kedarnath. She led her team to safety with no casualties and even helped a lot of stranded piligrims. A soft spoken and gutsy lady who is an inspiration to countless mountaineers in India.

Deepa Shembekar – Baramati
Deepa is basically a farmer from Baramati, near Pune. The cycling bug bit her in 1998 and she has been taking part in rallies since then. She's cycled not only in India but abroad as well and cycling is what she loves to do, jumping from one rally to the next. She is the resident cycle expert in the team and patiently explains the intricacies of cycling to the girls. A true green activist, she carries her own plate and cup everywhere she goes.