Gautam Patil



Gautam Patil is striving to be India's first to climb all 7 Summits, the tallest points on each of the 7 continents. Gautam was first inspired to climb after viewing a documentary on Mt. Everest while in sixth grade. As an avid mountaineer, he is more than halfway to achieving the status of India's first to climb the 7 summits. He has already made summit on: Denali (aka Mt.McKinley in North America), Aconcagua (South America), Kilimanjaro (Africa) and Elbrus (Europe). He was also India's first to step foot on Aconcagua, Elbrus and Denali. Currently, Gautam is en route to Antarctica tackling his fifth expedition, Vinson Massif. After Gautam safely summits Vinson Massif, his plan is to summit the final two over the next 7 months: Kosciuszko (Australia) in March and Everest (Asia) by May 2006. He is prepared, fit and raring to make this dream a reality.

Gautam is dedicating his final expeditions to eliminate curable blindness and as such, he is partnering with the Himalayan Cataract Project, Aaravind and Sankara Eye Foundation. For Gautam's final expedition, Mt. Everest, he is organizing three guided 18-day charity treks to Kala Pattar and Everest Base Camp. In partnership with Airline Ambassadors, the charity treks will hand deliver medical supplies to the Tilganga Eye Centre in Kathmandu. To learn more, visit www.iSummitworld.com

Gautam has been an invited speaker at numerous venues including Sierra Club, REI Stores, and Any Mountain Company. He brings his vision and unending enthusiasm to everything he does. Other than being an outstanding climber, his professional background is in Technology Product Management in Enterprise Software Products. He is also a founding director of the Silicon Valley Product Management Association Inc. As an activist, Gautam founded Cshops, a recognized, low overhead non-profit ecommerce organization which helps to connect the rural artisans of Manay Sadhna (Gandhi Ashram) and Guria with global customers.