I’m Ashish Rawat from Delhi, India. I work as a software engineer. I moved to Seattle beginning of this year and had no clue that I’ll be climbing Mt. Rainier when I first saw it through the airplane’s window. In fact, I didn’t know its name but it sure looked gorgeous.
I enjoy being close to nature, be it green, white, transparent or orange or any other shade it possesses. It has always brought peace to me. I want to learn, explore and do as many adventures whenever I get an opportunity to do so. I prefer to be jack of all trades than a master of one J.
Why I want to climb rainier??
Maybe, Because the sky looks different from up there. When I first heard about this climb I thought it’s doable, Since I spoke to a few people who had trained in the past and done it and I thought, I too could give it a try, and then I learnt about fundraising and how ASHA has been helping kids with their education and other life’s necessities. That settled me to take this opportunity to witness this beautiful mountain as well as to be part of something good through which I could touch a fellow human’s life. I’ve been contributing in past to help and this I think will be my biggest contribution so far.
Training so far
As part of the required training, I’ve already been doing the following climbs this spring with fellow climbers: Tiger Mountain; Mt. Si; Mailbox; Lake Tenerife/Kamikaze Falls; Mt. Saint Helens; Mt Granite, Red Mountain;
My final three climbs this summer will be: Mt. Adams; Mt. Baker; and finally, Mt. Rainier (in July, a 3-4-day climb).
Here’s the link to some of the pictures I’ve taken so far.
Asha and GRAVIS
Asha is a secular, non-profit, and an all-volunteer driven organization working towards socio-economic change in India. Their main focus is to empower the marginalized communities through education primarily for women and children. The GRAVIS project is one such project supported by Asha and the climbing program, for which I’m also a steward.
My Campaign
Please donate to my campaign for Climb for Asha, which raises fund for the GRAVIS program that improves the lives of villagers in the Thar Desert of Western India through children’s education, self-help groups for women, water-harvesting wells, and health camps. This short video shows the GRAVIS projects:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPrPDVLa49Q
My fundraising goal is $1500. Please note my mountain climbing gear, travel, guide and other expenses are self-funded. 100% of the donations to Asha go directly to funding projects and are completely tax exempted.
Donation Methods
You can donate using the ‘Donate’ button on the webpage.
Microsoft Employees can also donate via http://give for. Steps are as follows:
- Go to http://Give
- Click on “Give Money”
- Search for organization “Asha for Education, Seattle Chapter“
- Click “Add to Cart” and Continue
- If you have given a check, then select “Gift already made Money/Product/Stock given directly to org)”
- If you want to make the payment now, select “Make a new gift now (Donate online via credit card now)”
- Select “Match with cash” and enter the same amount as above.
- In the purpose you can write something like “2016 Asha Climbing Program – for Ashish Rawat“.
- Continue and Confirm to complete the transaction
or donate via a check made to ‘Asha for Education’. Please include ‘Team Asha Climb 2016 –Ashish Rawat’ on the check (let me know when you donate, so that I can track the ).
I am very grateful for your support, whether it is through well wishes, financial donations, or by spreading the word. Your pledge of support gives new energy to my efforts to bring hope and progress to the people of the Thar Desert—especially children.
Once again Thank you very much for your time and consideration. 🙂