The Governor of Maharashtra Jishnu Dev Varma, flagged off a team on Wednesday, March 18, of mountaineers embarking on a Mount Everest expedition starting 2 April, at Maharashtra Lok Bhavan.
The expedition is being led by Arjuna Award and Shiv Chhatrapati State Sports Award-winning mountaineer Umesh Zirpe.
The ‘Giripremi’ organisation has organised a fifty-day expedition titled Mount Everest Expedition 2026.
On this occasion, the Governor remarked stated that the Himalayas are not merely a mountain range but an integral part of our culture. They are a living symbol of our heritage and must be preserved and protected.
The Governor added that while we may not be able to climb Mount Everest ourselves, we can understand it through the experiences of mountaineers. He encouraged the team to meet him again after successfully summiting the peak.
Among those present on the occasion were Jayant Tulpule, President of Giripremi, along with Bhushan Harshe, Prasad Joshi, Chandan Chavan, Ajit Tate, and other representatives associated with the field of mountaineering.
Founder of Giripremi, Umesh Zirpe, along with mountaineers Vivek Shivde, Nikunj Shah, Mihir Jadhav, and Akhil Karkar, are participating in this year’s Mount Everest expedition.