We are happy to share an extraordinary story with you about an extraordinary young person. Jaahnavi Sriperambuduru is tackling a lot for someone who is only sixteen years old. Starting from a very young age, her father has been taking her to the mountains and now she is looking to continue her #Mission7Summit this spring with an ascent of Mt. Everest. Jaahnavi already has on her resume ascents of Mt. Denali, Mt. Kosciusko, Mt. Kilimanjaro, Mt. Elbrus, Island Peak, Stok Kangri and Ayala Peak.

Jaahnavi is also very involved in helping girls in India thrive with her Girl Child India work and her #AmPrettyTough campaign. She also just gave her third TEDx talk at TEDx Mumbai! As you will read, she is a strong believer in girl power.

Climbing, and especially mountaineering and seeking to reach the summit of Mt Everest, are dangerous activities. We trust and believe that Jaahnavi and her team will make the right decisions and be prepared for the daunting task of Everest and all the mountains in her future. 

Below are the links where you can learn more about Jaahnavi and donate to her seven summits goal and her work to empower girls in India.

Please tell us about the work you are doing for the girls of India. You have become a role model for so many. What are your goals with these projects?

Along with climbing the highest peaks of the seven continents, my goal is to educate underprivileged girls and give them the proper life skills for them to achieve their goals and dreams. Why I am doing this? There are many girls who want to achieve their dreams but do not have proper support or encouragement to fulfill them. I want to guide them and see that they have a wonderful  life. I believe in life we need to remember two important days: the day we were born and the day we realize why? Because we are sent to this earth for a reason. So I have identified my ‘“why,” which is to guide the girls and see that they have a satisfying life.

You were the youngest TEDx speaker. How did that come about and how did you choose your topic? How did it feel to be speaking for a TEDx production? And congratulations!

This was in 2016 when I was in U.S. for my phase four climb of Mission7Summit to Mt.Denali (also known as McKinley). After my climb when I came back to the east coast, and after I attended a Youth Symposium in the White House, I received a call from India to speak at TedxHyderabad 2016. I was very excited. I was literally jumping around once I hung up the call.

The reason I selected my topic as “No Mountain Too High” is because I wanted to express my opinion to the audience that nothing is impossible in life and wanted to help them realize that without problems and failures you cannot reach your success. I also said, “There is no shortcut to success.” The other main motto was to convince the audience that every one of us has a mountain within to conquer and we will conquer at some point in our life’s journey.

You are planning to climb Mt Everest in the Spring of 2018. What sort of help do you need for such a big undertaking. How can our readers and Musa Masala help?

As you know, climbing Mt. Everest is not only a difficult and tough task, but more getting funds is difficult. We are trying to raise funds through many sources like crowdfunding from Individuals, corporate sponsorships and [be a brand ambassador] for their company and also approaching different kind of organizations even like you, to spread about my mission towards Girls’ Empowerment.

The readers of Musa Masala can also come forward and support my climb both individually and through their groups for my cause to make the gender equality and girls’ empowerment throughout the globe. A person can contribute $50 or more depending upon the feasibility.

What do you like about mountaineering? 

What I like about mountaineering? Interesting! I love this question! There are many things to learn from this sport. I love to learn new things about myself. During every expedition, I discover new qualities in me, and I get to improve my strengths.

Mountaineering helps us learn to be independent, helps us understand nature and helps us understand our selves. It allows us to spend time with our self. Mountaineering also gives us many new friends from around the world and teaches us the meaning of true friendship and respecting each other.

How was Mt Denali, and how are you training for your Everest climb? 

This climb has made me realize that I was head strong to achieve greater heights in the future.  Mt.Denali is considered one of the 10 deadliest peaks in the world. It is also tougher than Mt.Everest irrespective of its climatic conditions or it terrain. For the Mt.Denali climb, we do not have porter like we have for the Everest expedition. (Yes, we can hire them but it is very difficult and very expensive to hire.) So we have to carry all of the required equipment for the climb from 14000 feet camp to 17000 feet. The required supplies are distributed in the rucksack and the sledge which will be hooked to our harness.

Before starting my expedition I was at the basecamp for a week to get myself acclimatized. I had my glacier rescue training, where I was guided down into a live crevasse and I was taught how to work the pulley system in case of emergency. I was also taught different anchoring and knot methods. I was very lucky to get well experienced guides who taught me and who were very impressed by my learnings.

Frankly, my training for Mt.Everest is not going the way it should be done. (I feel climbing Everest is much easier than collecting the funds!!) I have been running around in search of sponsors and funds. But then I am working on strengthening my lower limbs and overall fitness as suggested by a recent expedition Sherpa. I also did a few peaks like Island Peak and EBC and other Indian Himalayan climbs to make myself fit for Mt. Everest.

You just recently finished a trek to Everest Base Camp with the JGI schools group. How did that come about? 

We have organized the Everest Base Camp trek through our own organization, JanJay Adventures. My father started the organization a long time back but never thought of profiting from it; it was his passion. He would organize small treks for school students for which he used to take me along with him. Later, once I started conquering the peaks for my Mission7Summit, we were planning to organize a few treks for the adventure enthusiastic people and to spread awareness of the sport adventure.

In 2016, as an experiment, I guided a 10-year-old girl and her mother from Hyderabad to Everest Base Camp to understand children’s psychology and mental ability to face such extreme challenges [and to] understand the challenges faced by a kid of that age…After that climb we planned for this EBC trek for more than six months and approached three schools, selected JGI and gave them the proposal for trek with all the required information of our services, like the safety, training and mental preparation.

We are one of the only adventure organizations in India, who not only organize adventure tours but also give them proper training before any trek to make sure that all of the trekkers enjoy the journey more comfortably.

Did it feel good to get close to Mt. Everest again?

I feel more rejuvenated every time I get close to Mt. Everest and believe that Sagarmatha likes me to be closer to it all the times.

 Any fun stories you would like to tell about this trip or any of your expeditions?

Compared to other experiences of my adventure career, I can say this trip to EBC with the kids was more memorable because until now, whatever expeditions I have done or treks I have guided were all with people who were very older than me, but in this trek I had children in my age group… We all were in the same page, and I could also better understand their needs and explain problems to them much easier than to other age groups. We had lot of fun during the whole trek and I really could see my childhood, which I missed a lot. It will be with me for a lifetime.

*****

Learn more at JanJay Adventures, and like them on Facebook here.

To donate from India, click here. To donate from elsewhere, visit this link.