India's First Seven Summits

Gautam Patil graduated frm St. Stanislaus High School in

Gautam Patil is India's first man to have stood atop 5 of the world's 7 Summits the tallest point on each of the seven continents. He brings glory to India by climbing the world's tallest peaks and further advances India internationally and on mountains she has yet to conquer. In a recent message to President Kalaam, he said his dream for India's
youth was to reach for the pinnacles of personal achievement and to serve India's citizens.

Gautam has climbed five of the seven summits - Denali (North America), Aconcagua (South America),Kilimanjaro (Africa),Vinson Massif (Antarctica) and Elbrus (Europe) and he is India's first man to reach the top of Denali, Aconcagua, Elbrus, & Vinson Massif. He now plans on climbing atop the final two by June: Kosciusko (Oceania) in March, and Everest (Asia) by May 2006 and thus claiming India's first Seven Summits.

Gautam is dedicating his 7th Summit, Everest, to promote world peace and bring down the walls of inter-religious conflict. He has joined forces with the UN endorsed Everest Peace Project. Gautam, a Hindu climber, along with a Jewish climber from Israel, a Palestinian Muslim, a black male Christian from Africa, and a white female Christian from the USA will unite in the name of peace and triumph as one. Together the climbers hope to send a message of solidarity to the world. They will put their cultural differences aside and focus on their commonality in order to conquer the harsh conditions of Mt. Everest. The project will be filmed and the film will be released internationally. Learn more at isummitworld.com.

Gautam has been invited to present motivational talks at various venues including The Indus Entreprenuers (TiE), Sierra Club, REI Stores, and Any Mountain Company.

Gautam's professional background is in Technology Product Management in enterprise Software Products. He is
a founding director of the Silicon Valley Product Management Association Inc.

As an activist, Gautam founded Cshops, a recognized, low overhead non-profit ecommerce organization which helps to connect the artisans of Manav Sadhna (Gandhi Ashram) and Guria with global customers.