Mumbai − Mountaineer Jamling Norgay is the son of Tenzing Norgay who was among the first two people ever to summit Mt. Everest. He summited Everest in 1996, an experience documented in the 1998 IMAX film, Everest. Jamling Norgay is also a motivational speaker and has written a book − Touching My Father’s Soul – An Odyssey to the Top of Everest. He believes everyone has their own Everest to climb. Taking this thought forward and to commemorate the 50th year of the first successful summit of Mt Everest, STAR Plus and Fair and Lovely (FAL) Foundation have come together for an initiative Fulfill Your EVEREST − an initiative to give 10 women a chance to trek to EVEREST Basecamp led by Jamling Norgay, son of Tenzing Norgay. The initiative will be a sponsored expedition starting April 2015. The campaign saw 7222 online entries (out of which 5109 were unique entries) wherein women from across the country participated in an online test where they shared their unique reasons to summit the Everest.
STAR Plus recently launched EVEREST, a series produced by Ashutosh Gowariker, which showcased the journey of three individuals as they embarked upon a journey to touch the roof of the Earth (Mt. Everest). After a heart-warming response, the channel has now decided to support the ‘Trek to Base camp’ campaign along with FAL Foundation to find 10 Indian Women who want to follow a similar dream of their own.
Jamling Norgay who was in Mumbai to shoot for a special message for the viewers of Star Plus along with the lead actress of the tele-series EVEREST Shamata Anchan said, “2014 marks the 50th year of the first successful summit of Mt Everest. ‘Trek to Base camp’ is a great initiative where 10 Indian women will get an opportunity to take that first step on their journey of summiting Mt. Everest. This is a good initiative as it encourages women to step out and fulfill their dreams. This initiative also supports mountaineering as a sport. It is a great platform for women who – just like Anjali Singh Rawat, the protagonist of STAR Plus show EVEREST, can now go ahead and conquer their own EVEREST. I am honoured to be a part of such a noble initiative and will be leading the all-women team to the Everest Base camp.”
Actress Shamata Anchan, who portrays the protagonist Anjali Singh Rawat in EVEREST, will be promoting this with a special message. She added, “My father thought because am a girl, I wasn’t capable of summiting EVEREST, but I knew that women have the potential to do anything, all they need is an opportunity. Fulfill your EVEREST is a great initiative to support women who have not been able to do so. Through this, we want women to realize their dreams as I believe that you can conquer any EVEREST if you set your mind to it.”
The selection process for Trek to Base Camp was conducted online on the FAL Foundation website. Mercury Himalayan Explorations (MHE) scouted through all the entries and a panel that will be set up will shortlist 10 deserving women on the basis of various parameters which include a medical examination of the shortlisted entries. MHE’s medical advisor on all things related to high altitude trekking will supervise the medicals, after which the 10 women will be selected for the trek. The finalists will get to spend 17 days with Jamling Norgay as he shares his Mt Everest expedition experience with them and inspires them to summit the world’s highest peak. MHE will unveil the shortlisted women at a ceremony where the ‘1965 Golden Team’ will be felicitated.
STAR Plus and FAL Foundation have come together for this initiative to enable women across the country get an opportunity to conquer their Everest. The expedition, led by Jamling Norgay will be flagged off in April 2015.
