Patil is the only Indian woman to have scaled six of the world’s seven tallest mountains and is currently preparing for the 55-day trip. She is the only Indian on this team which includes professional mountaineers from seven other countries. The team will complete the 1500 mile long trek in under two months.
The other members of the team are Ann Bancroft of US (expedition co-leader) Olfat Haider of Israel, Cindy Jiaojiao Hu of China, Liv Arnesen of Norway (expedition co-leader), Kim Smith of South Africa, Lisa te Heuheu of New Zealand, and Marcia Gutierrez of Chile.
The team will trek through various cities in India and interact and engage with different communities. Some of the cities the 8-member team will pass through are Kanpur, Allahabad, Varanasi, Patna, Kolkata, and Delhi.
The idea is to shed more light on the water and environmental issues plaguing the Ganges River. The team aims at outlining the similarities between issues being faced along the Ganges and those surfacing in other parts of the world. Another important aspect of the trek is to stress on innovative solutions to tackle these issues.
Google India has also partnered with the Access Water Expedition and will help raise awareness about the Indian government’s Clean Ganga Project. Other partners include WAGGGS, UNESCO, Young Pioneers of China, TERI, The Norwegian Embassy, Tunheim, and Percept Profile.
(Featured Image Credit: AFP)