Dear Friends, STEP warmly welcomes Ms. Vaishali Vaman Haldavenekar from Mumbai as new Associate Member. Her introduction in her own words is as under, "I would like to introduced myself as an avid trekker and cyclist. I am trekking in Sahyadri and Himalaya since 1984. Visited more than 200 forts in Maharashtra. Some of my memorable Himalayan treks are Om Parbat-Kutti /Sin-la pass circuit trek, Mani Mahesh-Kugti pass, Chadar trek 2013, Dalhousie winter trek, Roopkund trek, Mt. Shitidhar ABC, Stok Kangri ABC, Mt. Samgyal peak ABC- Lasirmo la pass-ladakh marathon (7 km) (2018). Being an avid cyclist I have done 1260 km cycling in Europe in 2013 covering France-Belgium-Germany-Austria-Italy . This was self supported cycling expedition of 10 member team, which we completed in 30 days. We also did 550 km cycling in and around Sikkim in 2015. We started from phuntsholing (Bhutan) and ended in Siliguri via silk route. We were the fisrt team to cycle in the First carbon free state of India. We were felicitated by the Governor Of Sikkim Shrinivas Patil. In 2016, we did Manali to Leh cycling covering approximately 450 km. My eternal journey to the rocky Syhyadri and mighty Himalaya is still on. I have not taken any formal training in climbing. The knowledge I have, come from my gurus and seniors with whom I did trekking and cycling in last few decades. It would be my pleasure If I could share this knowledge with others." A warm welcome again into STEP family. We are sure that STEP would definitely strengthen with her.
