Our Mission

catalyse the growth of adventure sports and responsible tourism by bringing together world-class gear and equipment makers, expert trainers, best practices and technology advancement.

The Event

• First edition of Adventure Sports Expo
• 3-day event; the largest buyer-seller meet in India and the world
• Largest combined adventure-related B2B, B2C and B2G gathering in India
• Extensive media coverage across the country
• Biggest opportunity to leverage adventure sports as a business

Opportunity

Meet

• Distributors
• Institutional Buyers
• Tour and Camp Operators
• Training and Certification Institutes

Tap into

• The affluent population
• Adventure and thrill seekers
• The enthusiastic youth
• Infrastructure

SPEAKERS

Shannon is the CEO of Adventure Travel Trade Association (ATTA) and possesses more than 25 years' experience across adventure travel, e-commerce, outdoor retail, and environment science. He is a published author too and has also written several adventure travel articles published by National Geographic Adventure.

Shannon Stowell leads the ATTA as CEO after re-starting the organization in 2004 pursuing the vision that it could be a powerful force for good in the tourism industry. More than 25 years of business experience in adventure travel, e-commerce, outdoor retail, and environmental science have prepared him well to serve and head the organization.

Shannon has been advising and speaking around the world for the last 13 years advocating for responsible adventure tourism as a powerful way for destinations to benefit from a business that sits at the intersection commerce, conservation and community. He has served as a judge for numerous sustainability awards and programs and emceed ITB Berlin’s Corporate Social Responsibility day for two years.

In addition to his role as CEO, Shannon serves on two boards, the Corporate Advisory Council of the US Wildlife Trafficking Alliance and the Adventure Travel Conservation Fund (ATCF). He has also been on the boards of both the Global Sustainable Tourism Council Board and the American Hiking Society.

Shannon co-authored a book in 2008, published by National Geographic: Riding the Hulahula to the Arctic Ocean — A guide to 50 Extraordinary Adventures. He has also written several adventure travel articles published by National Geographic Adventure and continues to contribute to AdventureTravelNews, and other industry publications.

adventuretravel.biz

Archana Sardana is India’s first and only woman BASE (Building, Antenna, Span and Earth) jumper. She is also an accomplished skydiver, mountaineer, and scuba diver instructor. Archana has pulled off 335 skydives and multiple BASE jumps across the globe, and is also the first woman Master Scuba Diver Trainer in India.

Since discovering her love for adventure sports, Archana Sardana - who graduated as an interior designer - completed Adventure and Advanced Mountaineering courses from the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute, Darjeeling and Nehru Institute of Mountaineering.

She has since become a certified skydiver and India's first - and till date only - woman BASE (Building, Antenna, Span and Earth) jumper, having performed several skydives and BASE jumps across the world.

Archana was the first Indian to skydive with the Indian Flag in USA and the first Indian to BASE Jump the KL Tower, Malaysia, with the Indian Flag.

That's not all - Archana is also the only Indian woman to be certified by Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI), USA, as Master Scuba Diver Trainer, and has undertaken multiple deep sea scuba dives at various parts of the globe.

Ajeet Bajaj has traveled across various continents, and became the first Indian to ski to the North Pole and to the South Pole within a year. He was awarded the Padma Shri in 2012. Ajeet has since become an acclaimed name in the adventure world and his venture, Snow Leopard Adventures, is a leader in adventure tourism in India.

Ajeet Bajaj is an entrepreneur, adventurer and explorer, and possesses over three decades experience in adventure sport. He is the first Indian to have completed the Polar Trilogy which entails skiing to the North Pole, to the South Pole, and across Greenland.

Bajaj is also the first Asian to have rafted and kayaked some of the most challenging rivers of the world, spanning six continents. He was conferred the Padma Shri - one of the highest civilian honours - in 2012 by the President of India. He has also been felicitated with the Hall Of Fame award by the Adventure Tour Operators Association of India (ATOAI) for his contribution to the growth of adventure tourism in the country.

Bajaj is a member of the Himalayan Environment Trust and the Outstanding Speaker’s Bureau, India.

Shekhar Babu became the first Indian mountaineer, and the youngest, to climb Mt. Everest (as an individual) in 2007. Apart from being an accomplished mountaineer, Shekhar is also a guide, a motivational speaker and a promoter of adventure sport, and when he isn't scaling mountain peaks, he can be seen at Rock Climbing School, Bhongir, where he is Chief Instructor.

Shekhar Babu Bachinepally is a professional mountaineer, guide, motivational speaker and adventure sports promoter based in the city of Hyderabad, Telangana, India.

Shekhar was bitten by the adventure bug during his college days and was first introduced to rock climbing through his National Cadet Corps (NCC) course. There was no looking back since, and he started scaling various mountains (commencing with Mt. Imja Tse in 2003) - an effort that crescendoed when he conquered the three 'Death Zone' peaks (Mt. Everest, Mt. Cho-Oyu and Mt. Shishapangma) within a span of four months in 2007. He was the first Indian to do so and was fittingly awarded the “Tenzing Norgay National Adventure Award” by the Government of India.

Shekhar is regularly invited to speak at various conventions, from schools to corporates, to share his experiences in the mountains and how a normal individuals can utilize the same in their day-to-day life. The man himself keeps it very simple. In his own words, “There is no substitute for hard work, determination, grit and never-say-die attitude. Whether it’s a mountain or the most important goal in your life, you can’t get to the top of it in a single leap. You have got to do it one step at a time!”

Ravi Kumar is the India Program Director at National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS). Headquartered in the US, NOLS is among the world's biggest outdoor schools and operates at 15 locations globally, teaching activities ranging from rock climbing to mountaineering, backpacking, kayaking, sailing and rafting.

Throughout his 35 years of association with the outdoors, N. Ravi Kumar has remained a firm believer in the power of experiential education. Early trysts with rock climbing and mountaineering naturally led him to outdoor education, wherein the last 22 years have been with NOLS. Ravi identifies closely with NOLS for its mission and values. He believes that outdoor education can play a significant and effective role in developing future leaders who also use wilderness, responsibly.

A mechanical engineer, who felt challenged in conventional work places, Ravi chose to experiment instead with life as an outdoor educator. Over the years he has seen many young people spend extended periods in the outdoors and grow significantly from the experience. Promoting experiential education using wilderness, as classroom has been a most satisfying journey for the erstwhile engineer.

Ravi has been an Expedition Instructor for NOLS since 1999 and has taught for NOLS Wilderness Medicine since 2006. Ravi teaches mountaineering, backpacking and rock climbing courses in the Pacific Northwest, Rocky Mountain and India.

Suzanne Al Houby, a Palestinian mountain climber, was the first Arab woman to climb Mount Everest on May 21, 2011 and the seven summits.

Previously, she was also the first Arab woman to climb many other mountains: Mont Blanc, Elbrus, Aconcagua, Vinson, Denali, Carstensz Pyramid and many others.and the first Arab woman to summit Denali in Alaska.

Suzanne is an avid traveler and explorer, a humanitarian, and an environmentalist with an affiliation and a keen support to few charity organizations. She is the founder and the CEO of rahhalah explorers which specializes in adventure travel.

Alberto Andrich is the founder, CEO and president of the World Adventure Society. He is an adventure, nature and travel photographer. Andrich is dedicated to the structuring of the world adventure network of the World Adventure Society, which already has ambassadors in 35 countries.

Wade Campbell is a native of Canada, having almost 30 years of experience delivering outdoor adventure and training programmes in North America and Asia for tourist, corporate and youth groups. He began his career in 1984 with the Canadian Outward Bound School, and Borderlands Sri Lanka was founded in 2004, after many years based at Borderlands Nepal. His love and unending enthusiasm has been at the heart of making Borderlands what it is today.

Mohit Midha in the last 3 years also developed a passion for SCUBA diving and is now a certified advance diver with over a hundred dives logged already. In his Endeavour to show people the beauty of the outdoors, he has two extremely popular groups on Facebook called Ganga Panga (for rafting) and Wildlywise Wanderer (for wildlife and adventure travel) though which he leads various groups all across the globe.

Wg Cdr Amit Chowdhury, VSM (Retd), developed an interest in adventure activities when he joined Jadavpur University in 1976 and went for a rock climbing course at Susunia Hills in West Bengal. Very soon he was climbing in the crags of Bankura and Purulia and pioneering some new routes in these areas. Besides doing a few trekking routes, he attended the Mountaineering Courses at HMI Darjeeling.

He went on to lead the very successful expedition to Mt. Jogin in Garhwal in 1980. In that expedition he climbed the hitherto virgin Mt. Jogin II. More interesting, however, was that the team managed to bag all three Jogin peaks (I, II and III), something that has never been done since then.

This marked the beginning of a very exciting and fulfilling adventure career. He trail-blazed several expeditions with the Jadavpur University Mountaineering and Hiking Club (JUMHC) and later after passing out and getting commissioned in the Indian Air Force in 1982. He went on to lead several expeditions from JUMHC and even mentored Baldev Kanwar who later went on to climb Everest and get the National Adventure Award.

Amit climbed extensively in the Himalayas to peaks such as Kamet (7756 m), Satopanth (7075 m), Jaonli (6632 m), Kedar Dome (6831m), and several other 5000 and 6000 m peaks such as Sudarshan Parbat, Deo Tibba, CB-53, CB-54, Manali, Ladakhi and Shitidhar. He has trekked and climbed in Nepal, French Alps, Avon and Dorset in England and the Caucasus mountains in Russia from 2010 to 2014.

After he got commissioned in the IAF, Amit earned his para wings and took to Skydiving. He was one of the chief organisers of the 1st National Skydiving Championship. Besides Skydiving he was also active in the IAF Mountaineering Expeditions and went on to participate in mountaineering expeditions to Mt Satopanth, Mt Kamet from the West route, which was a joint expedition with the Royal Air Force. On this expedition, he was involved in the rescue of three colleagues from the top of the ridge which involved some 4000 feet of climbing on rock and ice. It took 16 hours to carry out this rescue.

In 1992, Amit was sent on deputation to Indian Institute of Skiing and Mountaineering, Gulmarg, as the Principal. This was a challenging task as the entire valley was in a state of disturbance. Not one to give up easily, Amit went on to establish Skiing and Paragliding Centres in Auli and Patnitop.

At this stage Paragliding was a new sport in the country. He set up the first training courses for Paragliding in India. Many of his students went on to become pioneers in the growth of the sport in the country.

Not only was he invited to become a member of HMI Darjeeling, he also participated in several Skiing Competitions as a Member of Games Technical Committee.

Later he led an expedition to recover the body of Sepoy Beli Ram, one of the victims of the AN-12 crash in 1968. He not only led the search for other victims by was instrumental in identifying the crash and closing the loop for many people who had been declared missing when the aircraft mysteriously vanished on the way to Leh. After a week-long search at 16000 ft he brought back aircraft parts to prove that it was indeed the 1968 crash.

Besides being an accomplished Paragliding and Para-motoring Pilot, Amit Chowdhury has also been instrumental in introducing several people from all walks of like to aero sports. He even trained the Chief of Air Staff in Parachuting.

Only after three years of training and several expeditions to Mt Deo Tibba (6000 m), Hanuman Tibba, Kamet (7756 m), Kabru Dome etc, all led by him, Wg Cdr Amit Chowdhury led the 1st IAF expedition to Mt. Everest in 2005 by the North route and achieved success. The party placed three air warriors on the summit. This was a pioneering expedition as no other Air Force team in the world had ever attempted an 8000 m peak before.

After taking pre-mature retirement from the IAF, Amit set up a very successful Management Consultancy practice, however his tireless efforts to promote mountaineering continued. He dialogued with stalwarts such as Sir Chris Bonington in promoting mountain safety and has conducted several workshops for Climbing Safety in India and abroad. Currently he is a member of the Safety Commission of the International Climbing and Mountaineering Federation UIAA.

Amit has been active in the field of Parachuting as well. He is the current President of the Indian Parachuting Federation and has been actively organizing parachuting camps. As Vice President of the Indian Mountaineering Foundation, Amit Chowdhury has been regularly giving lectures and slide shows around the world promoting climbing in India and inviting foreign climbers to participate in Indian mountaineering camps like the Climbathon.

He travels at his own expense to all these lectures and demonstrations in India and abroad including attending meetings of the UIAA. Here he is seen with legendary mountaineer and ex Director of Field Training HMI Darjeeling on the rocks of Susunia.

Recently Wg Cdr Amit Chowdhury drafted the Safety norms for adventure activities. Besides regularly motivating and encouraging young mountaineers to climb in the Himalayas, Wg Cdr Amit Chowdhury has conceptualized and launched the Emergency First Responder training for mountaineering and trekking trip leaders and guides, thereby inculcating a sense of safety and emergency response in the adventure community.

Wg Cdr Amit Chowdhury, VSM (Retd.), was awarded the Tenzing Norgay National Adventure Award at the Rashtrapati Bhavan, on 29th August, 2014 for his outstanding contribution to the field of Mountaineering.

Dr. Neharika Yadav is a Superbike Racer and a Dental Surgeon.

Participated in the JK TYRE Superbike Championship 2015,2016,2017 in the 1000 cc category as the only female racer out of 33 male racers riding a Ducati Panigale 899 and clocked a best time of 2:18 secs.

Discovery Channel did a documentary on Dr. Neharika Yadav covering her life juggling her passion of Superbike racing with her profession of Dentistry.

She has given two Ted Talks inspiring people to live their life to the fullest and keep their fears behind them.

She was presented the Inspirational Indian woman award by Mr. Arvind Kejriwal at the Navbharat Times award.

Was Invited to ride at the Sepang International Circuit,Malayasia by Ducati as a part of the Ducati Racing experience.

Pirelli invited her to Mugello Circuit, Italy for their racing event.

Founder Hike'n sailing, certified tour guide

I am the founder and guide of the Hike'n sailing senior. Studied Industrial Engineering at Istanbul Technical University. I have 29 years experience in the adventure travel industry and I see myself as a happy minority member because I love to do this passionately. I like to design new routes. I have participated in 3 biodiversity programs and developed a passion for photograpy of gray flowers and share my photos on www.floraofturkey.com. I like to hike, kayak, photograph, eat, eat, history and politics.

I started to lead trekking trips to Mount Ararat and the Kackar Mountains in 80s. This became the reason to give up my engineering career. I became a certified professional guide and then started my own travel company called Hike'n Sail in Turkey in the 90s. I was one of the lucky guides who had the opportunity to participate bio-diversity training programs in Kackar National Park and the Termessos National Park, organized by TUBITAK. These were life changing experiences. I had the honor to meet some of the most prestigous scientists of Turkey, such as Prof. Ali Demirsoy, Prof. Tuna Ekim, Ass. Prof. Sancar Ozaner and others. This is how my ambition for wildflower photography began. Then on the business side, my company started to organize trips for Alpine Garden Society. This time I had the chance to travel with the experts and members of this elit organization and I learnt a great deal from them, in particular from Bob & Rannveig Wallis who are great experts and leaders. On this website, I satisfy my desire to share my wildflower photos with flora enthusiasts and friends.

I love beeing out in the nature, at high altitudes, away from the madding crowds and do not bother anything else. Modern life creates the impression that the individual's life is too much of a big deal. We put the human being in the center of the universe and have the dillusion that everything alse is created for us. What a tragic mistake. Understanding bio-divercity is a great way of understanding life and one's place and role in the universe. I think spending time in nature is an ideal exercise for personal improvement.

Megh Ale is known as the "River Man" in Nepal.

Elected to the Ashoka Fellowship in 2007, Ale is a river guide in Kathmandu and the founder and president of the non-profit Nepal River Conservation Trust. In this video, Ale shares the story of Nepal's rivers as he walks along the banks of the River Bagmati in Kathmandu, which he describes as the country's "holiest and the filthiest" river. Ale also raises concerns about another river, Karnali, the longest and the "most pristine Himalayan river" left in the country. Karnali may not remain free flowing for long, as a private engineering firm in neighboring energy-hungry India seeks to build a dam on the river to provide hydropower.