My name is Jon Glassberg and I own a production company called Louder Than Eleven. I make movies about climbing and adventure based out of Boulder, Colorado.

About two years ago I teamed up with outdoor clothing company Marmot and professional climber Paige Claassen to produce a world tour that would combine high end rock climbing in remote places of the world while simultaneously raising money for women and children in the countries we visited.

The project is called “Lead Now” and our goal is simple: spend one month in each country trying to climb the hardest routes we can find while working with non-profit organizations to develop marketing materials that they could use to fundraise for themselves and through our project.

The catch was that we wouldn’t be coming home between each month’s adventure and we would be traveling from one country to the next for nine months learning as we go.

Marmot’s Lead Now Tour – Stop 6 – India from Louder Than Eleven on Vimeo.

Stop #5: China

Six months into our trip around the world and we come full circle to the inspiration behind the journey.  We touch down in Badami, India to attempt the hardest route in the country and work with Apne Aap Women Worldwide to learn about sex trafficking and help the non-profit raise money.

After the relative comforts of our westernized lifestyle in China, we were thrust into the chaos of southern India without much knowledge of what we were getting into.  We were warned about the food and we knew it was going to be hot so we prepared the best we could.  What we didn’t realize was just how hot it was going to be and Paige had to wake up at 4am each day to make progress on her climbing project before the sun came out and made the rock to hot.

Living and climbing in a predominantly Muslim part of India was a life changing experience and for Paige it was a battle with the rock and the culture.  After our three week stay we had both gotten bad food poisoning and sent the hardest route in India, we were happy and it was time to move on.

Check out the video for the full story and look here for more videos and information about the Lead Now Tour, follow our Instagram, or visit our Facebook page.

Love elephant and want to go steady?

Sign up for our (curated) daily and weekly newsletters!

Editor: Renée Picard

Image: screenshot from video