Ajeet Bajaj | |
|---|---|
 At South Pole | |
| Born | 17 September 1965 |
| Occupation | Adventure sports |
| Spouse(s) | Shirly Thomas Bajaj |
| Children | Deeya Suzannah Bajaj and Meghna Ann Bajaj |
| Parent(s) | Jai Dev Bajaj and Satya Bajaj |
Ajeet Bajaj (born 1965) is the first Indian to ski to the North Pole and complete the polar trilogy which entails skiing to the North Pole, South Pole and across the Greenland icecap. Bajaj and his daughter Deeya Bajaj were the first Indian father daughter team to climb Mt. Everest.
Bajaj (also affectionately known as "Bagage") completed his schooling at The Lawrence School, Sanawar. [1] At the age of twelve he climbed the 17,353-foot-high (5,289 m) Friendship Peak near Kullu. He graduated from St. Stephen's College, Delhi. [2]
Bajaj is the first Indian to have skied to both the North Pole [3] and the South Pole. He has also traveled multiple countries spanning all seven continents. [4] In July 2008 he kayaked along the coast of Greenland as part of an Indo-American team. The expedition's aim was to create awareness about the effect of global warming on glaciers. [5]
Bajaj won a bronze medal in the national games for kayaking. He has received a silver and two bronze medals in international rafting competitions in Switzerland and Siberia, Russia. [6] He has captained an international team for world white water championships in Turkey. [7]
Bajaj qualified as a climbing instructor at the French National School of Alpinism and Skiing and has experience in a host of other adventure sports including skiing, rock climbing, snorkeling, sea kayaking, scuba diving, bungee jumping and canyoning. [8]
He is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and is former President of the Adventure Tour Operators Association of India. [2]
Bajaj along with his daughter Deeya climbed Mount Everest on 16 May 2018. [9] This made them the first father - daughter duo to do so. [10] [11]
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Mount Everest is Earth's highest mountain above sea level, located in the Mahalangur Himal sub-range of the Himalayas. The China–Nepal border runs across its summit point. Its elevation of 8,848.86 m (29,031.7 ft) was most recently established in 2020 by the Chinese and Nepali authorities.
Tenzing Norgay, born Namgyal Wangdi, and also referred to as Sherpa Tenzing, was a Nepali-Indian Sherpa mountaineer. He was one of the first two individuals known to reach the summit of Mount Everest, which he accomplished with Edmund Hillary on 29 May 1953. Time named Norgay one of the 100 most influential people of the 20th century. In 2003, the Tenzing Norgay National Adventure Award, India's highest adventure-sports award, was renamed in his honour.
NOLS is a non-profit outdoor education school based in the United States dedicated to teaching environmental ethics, technical outdoors skills, wilderness medicine, risk management and judgment, and leadership on extended wilderness expeditions and in traditional classrooms. It was previously known as the National Outdoor Leadership School, but in 2015 this label was retired in favor of the independonym "NOLS". The NOLS mission is to be the leading source and teacher of wilderness skills and leadership that serve people and the environment. NOLS runs courses on six continents, with courses in a variety of wilderness environments and for almost any age group.
Bachendri Pal is an Indian mountaineer, who in 1984 became the first Indian woman to reach the summit of Mount Everest. She was awarded the third highest civilian award Padma Bhushan by Government of India in 2019.
Major Hari Pal Singh Ahluwalia was an Indian mountaineer, author, social worker and retired Indian Army officer. During his career he made contributions in the fields of adventure, sports, environment, disability and social work. He is one of six Indian men and the twenty first man in the world to climb Mount Everest. On 29 May 1965, 12 years to the day from the first ascent of Mount Everest, he made the summit with the fourth and final successful attempt of the 1965 Indian Everest Expedition along with H. C. S. Rawat and Phu Dorjee Sherpa. This was the first time three climbers stood on the summit together.
Captain Mohan Singh Kohli is an internationally renowned Indian mountaineer. An officer in the Indian Navy who joined the Indo-Tibetan Border Police, he led the 1965 Indian expedition which put nine men on the summit of Everest, a world record which lasted for 17 years.
Jimmy Chin is an American professional climber, National Geographic photographer, Academy Award-winning film director, and New York Times bestselling author. He directed, alongside his wife, E. Chai Vasarhelyi, Free Solo.
Reena Kaushal Dharmshaktu is the first Indian woman to ski from coast of Antarctica to South Pole covering a distance of 900 kilometers.
Tashi and Nungshi Malik are the first siblings and twins to climb the Seven Summits and reach the North and South Poles and complete the Adventurers Grand Slam and Three Poles Challenge.
Love Raj Singh Dharmshaktu is an Indian mountaineer who has climbed Mount Everest seven times.
Colonel Narendra Kumar, PVSM, KC, AVSM, FRGS was an Indian soldier and mountaineer. He is known for his expeditions across various mountain ranges such as the Himalayas and Karakorams, and respective subranges such as the Pir Panjals and Saltoro Mountains. His reconnaissance efforts on the Siachen glacier were key to the Indian Army's reclamation of the forward posts of the glacier in Operation Meghdoot in 1984. He was the deputy leader of the first successful Indian Mount Everest expedition in 1965.
Maj. Harsh Vardhan Bahuguna was a leading mountaineer of India and a military officer. He was an instructor of skiing and mountaineering at the High Altitude Warfare School, Gulmarg and had successfully climbed many mountains.
Aparna Kumar is a 2002 batch IPS officer of Uttar Pradesh cadre. IPS stands for Indian Police Service. She was attracted to mountaineering a few years earlier when she was posted at Moradabad, and commanding The 9th Battalion of PAC. She was awarded Tenzing Norgay National Adventure Award in 2018 for land adventure by the President of India.
Arvind Raturi is the youngest mountaineer from Uttarakhand to scale Mount Everest at the age of 20. As a member of the NCC Mt Everest Expedition 2013, Arvind summited the world’s highest peak on 19 May 2013 at 0730 hours (IST).
Anshu Jamsenpa is an Indian mountaineer and the first woman in the world to scale the summit of Mount Everest twice in a season, and the fastest double summitter to do so within 5 days. It is also the fastest double ascents of the tallest crest by a woman. She is from Bomdila, headquarters of West Kameng district, Arunachal Pradesh - the state that holds most north-eastern position of India. She was awarded India's fourth highest civilian award the Padma Shri in 2021.
The first attempts to summit Mount Everest by Indians were in 1960. The first Indians to reach the summit were a group led by Captain M.S. Kohli in 1965. 422 Indians made a total of 465 attempts between 1965 and 2018. These include 43 repeat attempts by 29 summiteers. There have been 81 attempts by 74 women and 7 repeat attempts by 4 female summiteers from India.
Deeya Suzannah Bajaj is an Indian adventure sports athlete.
The Tenzing Norgay National Adventure Award, formerly known as the National Adventure Awards is the highest adventure sports honour of the Republic of India. The award is named after Tenzing Norgay, one of the first two individuals to reach the summit of Mount Everest along with Edmund Hillary in 1953. It is awarded annually by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports. The recipients are honoured for their "outstanding achievement in the field of adventure activities on land, sea and air" over the last three years. The lifetime achievement is awarded to individuals who have demonstrated excellence and have devoted themselves in the promotion of adventure sports. As of 2020, the award comprises "a bronze statuette of Tenzing Norgay along with a cash prize of ₹5 lakh (US$6,600)."