Ms. Namita Nayyar
Meals/day also?
Ms. Gowri Varanashi
I love every meal! I don’t ever skip meals and I love eating healthy meals that have lots of veggies, lentils, beans, and grains. I love having millets instead of rice too.
Ms. Namita Nayyar
How do you prepare against the unpredictable weather while rock-climbing?
Ms. Gowri Varanashi
There is best way to prepare for such thing because weather is unpredictable. Being informed of the seasons, checking the forecast before going to a climb are often ways to prepare a bit but at the end of the day, smart decision making while observing the weather is the best strategy to hand le bad weather while being safe. So if we have to climb back down and not attempt a climb that day due to bad weather, then it better to be smart and not climb at all for the day.
Ms. Namita Nayyar
Share input on mountains you have climbed? The most memorable expedition that has stayed with you?
Ms. Gowri Varanashi
I have mostly climbed rocks and not mountains but a few of the most memorable long multi-pitch climbs I have to done to get up on top of a rock mountain is when my friend took me climbing to the top of Devils tower in Wyoming in the US and when we climbed to the top of Half Dome in Yosemite, also in the US.
Ms. Namita Nayyar
Fitness quote you live by? Message for upcoming International Yoga Day 2021.
Ms. Gowri Varanashi
I don’t really have a specific quote I live by but I guess something I believe in is that persistence is key to being to healthy and fit.
Ms. Namita Nayyar
Your present projects?
Ms. Gowri Varanashi
I have a climb route I would like to try in Badami, India this year but I also have many long-term projects to teach climbing to women and young girls through Climb Like A Woman, which I initiated in 2018.
Ms. Namita Nayyar:
Message for your fans & WF followers especially teenage girls on rock climbing & how to overcome inhibitions & fear.
Ms. Gowri Varanashi:
My message to all young women is, don’t ever stop yourself from trying something new, even if it scares you because you will learn a new found sense of confidence in yourself and in your body.
I live by trying everything at least once in my life, I hope you do too because the happiness reward of successfully doing something challenging is way more than not trying it at all.
Ms. Namita Nayyar
You climbed the hardest grade in rock climbing called Samsara (5.13b or 8a in French grading). How & when did you decide on the adventure. Share your experience on the same.
Ms. Gowri Varanashi
After climbing French Indian Masala in 2017, I had my mind on climbing Samara for a couple of years but my training had become inconsistent so I couldn’t gather up my confidence in 2018 or 2019. Last year though as covid became a big issue, I ask Shiva who is a climbing coach in Bangalore, if he would train me and he agreed. So began my training for second half of 2021 and in December of last year I climbed Samsara (8a, 5.13b), my hardest climb to date.
