Tough Girl Podcast Gowri Varanashi - Environmental Educator, Climber and founder of Climb Like A Woman (CLAW) - inspiring more women to climb in India.
Dec 28, 2021
44:23
Gowri is a naturalist and environmental educator who loves finding an excuse to be outdoors in nature—and climbing is one of her favourite excuses. Gowri grew up climbing trees and scrambling on rocks in India, she went on to become an outdoor guide in the Peruvian Amazon. Gowri currently teaches nature connection to kids in Upstate NY and India and also teaches Indian women climbing. A few years ago she received the Live your Dream Grant given by American Alpine Club and the North Face to climb her hardest project to date, called French Indian Masala (7b+/5.12c), in India. In 2018 she initiated the first-ever Indian women's climbing meet up in India to mentor and teach women climbing, called CLAW or Climb Like A Woman. She hopes to keep teach climbing, inspire more women to climb, and teach nature connection to the larger outdoor community through her new initiative Wilderness Ways. Listen to Gowri now!!! New episodes of the Tough Girl Podcast go live every Tuesday and Thursday at 7am UK time - Hit the subscribe button so you don’t miss out. The Tough Girl Podcast is sponsorship and ad free thanks to the monthly financial support of patrons. Support the mission to increase the amount of female role models in the media. Visit www.patreon.com/toughgirlpodcast and subscribe - super quick and easy to do and it makes a massive difference. Thank you. Show notes
- Who is Gowri
- Her passions and her work
- Growing up in India
- Going to a non conventional school
- Being obsessed with snakes
- Getting into nature and wildlife from a young age
- Her dreams as a little girl
- Going to college over in America
- Her journey into climbing
- Working in Peru as a guide
- Going to an indoor rock climbing gym in the US
- Her first climb outdoors
- Climbing the French Indian Masala route
- Applying for a grant
- CLAW - Climb Like A Woman
- Wanting to teach Indian women how to climb
- Holding the first event in 2018
- Going against gender norms
- Climbing in Hampi
- Women teaching women
- The false stories we tell ourselves
- Dealing with fears when climbing
- The women who have inspired Gowri in climbing and nature
- Being inspired by Flash Foxy
- Planning a climb and starting a new project
- Producing a film of the French Indian Masala route climb
- Starting training 2 months before
- Figuring out your weaknesses and strengths
- The importance of rest
- Taking on a new challenge every 2 years
- The next project…..
- Training for one move
- The move….
- Watch the video on Youtube - French Indian Masala - Gowri Varanashi
- Wilderness Ways
- Teaching children - Nature connection
- How to connect with Gowri
- Final words of advice
- Be curious, observe and ask questions!