My interest in trekking and climbing began in 1969, when I joined the Delhi Mountaineering Association. My first encounter with the Indian Himalayas came a year later, when I took part in an expedition organized by the DMA, from Bharmaur to Darcha via Kugti Pass, in Himachal Pradesh. This was the start of a special bond with the Himalayas that has lasted all my life. In 1974, I was fortunate enough to complete a course in basic mountaineering, at the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute, under the guidance of the Late Tenzing Norgay. I have organized and guided over 250 climbing expeditions in the Indian Himalayas, and have had the privilege of being closely associated with world-renowned mountaineers such as Sir Edmund Hillary, Reinhold Messner, Junko Tabei, Capt. M.S. Kohli and Major H.P.S. Ahluwalia, among others. I have traveled widely over 35 years, and have given lectures at many alpine clubs, especially in Japan. I was also the first person to promote camel safaris for foreign tourists in the Thar Desert in Rajasthan. I now want to do more for adventure tourism in India, and involve the communities which I deal with, so that they are able to grow and flourish, and also to share in the gains, be they material or otherwise .