Chea Chea Marak has been signed in by WILDCRAFT India Pvt Ltd as their Brand ambassador.

Chea Marak was just about six years old when her family went by a rock climbing wall at a fair. Before anybody knew it, she was half-way up the wall sans a harness. This incident brought her propensity for climbing to her parents’ and others attention.

Eight years hence, Chea is still climbing!

She bagged the gold at the 14th National Sport Climbing Championship, hosted by the Indian Mountaineering Foundation at Delhi. In August 2009, Chea represented India at the Asian Youth Cup in Bali and brought home a silver.

Wildcraft is proud to be able to help Chea achieve her goal: “To be a world Champion”!

Way to go Chea!

Wilderness First Responder: A First-Hand Account

Tarsh Williams is Manager, Outdoors at Wildcraft. An HR professional who chose to follow his heart into the hills, he runs Wildcraft’s adventure-based training programs. Here he speaks of the Wilderness First Responder Program he underwent that equips you with skills necessary to administer first aid and treatment when conventional care may not be at hand.

One of the best places in the world to learn about the outdoors and wilderness adventure is the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) in Wyoming, USA. I’ve been among the fortunate few from India who has got a chance to go through a 120 day semester that covers everything from winter camping to wilderness medicine.

The Wilderness First Responder (WFR) course is one of the memorable programs I went through. 30 participants and 80 hours didn’t sound particularly out of the ordinary until it actually began and I realized that it was rigorous to a point of being extreme! We put up in a ranch in Wyoming, one of America’s most scenic states, but what we were about to go through was anything but scenic!

I remember one exercise where 3 members or our class were chosen to be volunteers who would subject themselves to extreme cold water to bring on hypothermia and it was our responsibility that we took action required.

Here’s a note completely unrelated to the outdoors and adventure: about The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE). They are the world’s largest not-for-profit organization promoting the entrepreneurial spirit. Founded in Silicon Valley in 1992 by people who had their roots in the Indus region, TiE now has 53 Chapters in 12 countries. Over 12,000 members are top entrepreneurs, venture capitalists and management professionals in their chosen field.

So what has this got to do with Wildcraft, you ask? Well, Dinesh KS, co-founder of Wildcraft and intrepid entrepreneur himself was invited to a TiE Member Meeting in Bangalore on July 8, 2009 to speak on the panel discussing The Business of Sports and Entrepreneurial Opportunities in Sports. On the panel with him were Charu Sharma, Saumil Majumdar (co-founder and CEO of Sportzvillage), Mahesh Bhat (Founder, MMB Legal) and Ara Pararajasingham (Director, Leander Paes Sports). It was by any standards, a very august gathering.

The discussion centered around sport and its attendant ecosystem of players and athletes, equipment, events, sponsors, training, media & entertainment, and agents that drive huge business opportunities worth billions of dollars. In India, this is an emerging industry. Dinesh spoke of the story of Wildcraft, and how it was an integral part of this ecosystem dealing in adventure and outdoor activity gear.