MAM
Mountain Goat Adventure Festival 2026 kicks off with Kärcher
13th Winter Expedition conquers Leh-Ladakh, Himachal, Upper Mustang and Bhutan from 15–22 February.
MUMBAI: The Mountain Goat Adventure Festival just proved that even the Himalayas need a good scrub because when your 4×4 is caked in mud, snow and legend, only Kärcher gets the job done. The 13th Winter Expedition, part of India’s premier endurance-led automotive community event, roared to life from 15 to 22 February 2026. A disciplined convoy of off-roaders tackled high-altitude deserts in Leh-Ladakh, rugged Himachal ridges, hidden trails in Nepal’s Upper Mustang, and challenging routes in Bhutan.
This year Kärcher India joined as the official wash partner, bringing nearly a century of high-pressure cleaning expertise to the extreme environment. Alfred Kärcher invented Europe’s first hot-water high-pressure washer in 1950, and the brand now celebrating 90 years of innovation in 2025–26 remains the world’s best-selling pressure washer, certified by Guinness World Records.
In the frozen Himalayas, where mud, snow, slush and salt threaten mechanical failure, Kärcher’s machines stripped vehicles clean with precision. From 4x4s to adventure bikes and gear, the tech kept everything expedition-ready and looking sharp.
Mountain Goat co-founders Shashwat Gupta and Suraj Tayal said, “As we enter the 13th Winter Expedition in 2026, Mountain Goat continues to push boundaries across newer terrains and tougher conditions. Strong partnerships play a key role in enhancing the expedition experience. In environments where mud, snow, and slush are constant challenges, maintaining vehicles becomes essential not just for performance, but for pride.”
The collaboration highlighted a perfect match, Mountain Goat’s relentless drive to conquer unforgiving landscapes paired with Kärcher’s legendary ability to blast away the grit. In a festival where every kilometre tells a story, this year’s edition proved that the real adventure isn’t just reaching the peak, it’s arriving there looking like you never left the showroom.
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IICT partners with Gativedhi to bring studio production tools to students
New MoU lets students explore AI-driven production pipelines for AVGC-XR
MUMBAI: The Indian Institute of Creative Technologies (IICT) has teamed up with Gativedhi Technologies to give students a front-row seat to modern studio production. The collaboration will integrate Gativedhi’s AI-powered production intelligence platform, Shotrack, into academic programmes, letting students experience the workflow systems used by animation, VFX and gaming studios.
Under the MoU, faculty, students and researchers will get hands-on access to Shotrack through beta programmes, pilot deployments and academic evaluations. This will allow them to explore simulated production pipelines, understand asset management, track tasks and monitor schedules, essentially seeing how complex projects come together behind the scenes.
Shotrack is designed to tackle a key industry challenge: when multiple studios work on the same project, differing internal systems often create bottlenecks, slow approvals and complicate version control. The platform provides a unified production environment, enabling smoother collaboration across distributed teams while generating operational insights and predictive analytics to optimise crew allocation, forecast schedule risks and manage costs.
The collaboration also opens doors to Gativedhi’s wider ecosystem. Upcoming tools include StudioTrack, for studio operations management covering budgeting, recruitment and IT infrastructure, and WorkTrack, which measures workflow efficiency and team productivity across industries.
IICT plans to embed these tools into programmes covering animation pipelines, VFX workflows, gaming production and media project management. Students will also benefit from guest lectures, masterclasses, workshops, internships and research projects that connect academic learning with real-world studio practices.
IICT CEO Vishwas Deoskar, said the partnership provides “An environment where production pipeline tools can be explored, tested and refined while students gain insight into how large-scale productions are organised.”
Gativedhi Technologies founder & CEO Senthil Kumar added, “This collaboration introduces students to real-world studio management tools and helps us improve our platform with academic feedback.”
With Shotrack in classrooms, India’s future animators, VFX artists and gaming producers will get a taste of studio life long before they step into one.
