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Mohan Singh Kohli | |
---|---|
Born | Haripur, British India | 11 December 1931
Allegiance | India |
Service/ | Indo-Tibetan Border Police |
Years of service | 1 |
Rank | Captain |
Awards |
|
Captain Mohan Singh Kohli (born 11 December 1931), is an Indian Navy officer and mountaineer, who led the 1965 Indian Everest Expedition, which saw nine men reach the summit of Everest, a world record for 17 years. [1]
Born and raised in Haripur on the banks of the Indus in the Karakoram mountains of the North West Frontier, Kohli witnessed the massacre of over 2,000 people during the partition of India.
Beginning with Saser Kangri (25,170 ft) in 1956, he has participated in 20 major Himalayan expeditions, including India's first ascent of Nanda Kot and the maiden ascent of Annapurna III. In 1962, he spent three consecutive nights, including two without oxygen, on Everest at 27,650 feet during severe blizzards, joining a select group of climbers.
During his tenure with the Indian Navy, he incorporated adventure training. Over 15 years with the Indo-Tibetan Border Police, he developed the force into a notable mountaineering organisation. Leading seven significant and sensitive missions under the guidance of officers B.N. Mullick and R.N. Kao, he worked with climbers and scientists from the US to install nuclear-powered listening devices on Indian Himalayan peaks to monitor Chinese missile capabilities.
Upon joining Air-India in 1971, Kohli promoted ‘Trekking in the Himalayas’ globally, making over 1,000 presentations in more than 50 countries, including appearances on popular TV programmes such as ‘To Tell the Truth’ and ‘David Frost Show’. On 3 December 1978, he flew over the South Pole.
To protect the Himalayas, he secured support from Sir Edmund Hillary and other Himalayan figures, including Maurice Herzog, Sir Chris Bonington, Reinhold Messner, and Junko Tabei, establishing the Himalayan Environment Trust on 14 October 1989. The trust has contributed to preserving this world heritage.
In India, he also introduced Himalayan tourism, white-water rafting, aero-sports, luxury sea cruises, tourist charters to Goa, international conferences, and opened Lakshadweep and the Andaman Islands to tourism.
His 14-year tenure as Vice-President/President of the Indian Mountaineering Foundation was marked by many significant developments. Since retiring in 1990, he has focused on the development of youth through various adventure and outdoor leadership projects.
Kohli served as President of the Indian Mountaineering Foundation from 1989 to 1993. He co-founded the Himalayan Environment Trust in 1989.
He has received the following awards:
He has also received several international recognitions.
Kohli is known for leading India's first successful Indian Everest Expedition in 1965. Nine climbers reached the summit, setting a world record that stood for 17 years. Upon the team's return from Nepal, the Prime Minister personally received them at the airport, a break from protocol. The entire team was awarded the Arjuna Award, and all eleven members received the Padma Bhushan or Padma Shri.
Former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi praised the expedition: “The record of Commander Kohli’s expedition will find special mention in history. It was a masterpiece of planning, organization, teamwork, individual effort and leadership.” She also called it one of India's six major achievements after Independence.
A full-length film on the expedition, with music by Shankar Jaikishan, was released across India and abroad. The story of the achievement was widely covered in national newspapers and magazines. Kohli and some team members were honoured in cities like Brussels, Paris, Geneva, and Rome. Tenzing Norgay accompanied Captain Kohli to several countries.
In addition to the Everest expedition, Captain M.S. Kohli and Tenzing Norgay climbed several European peaks, piloted by Raymond Lambert.
In India, the team was invited by Chief Ministers of various states and honoured at receptions. On 8 September 1965, Kohli addressed Members of Parliament in the Central Hall. The expedition sparked a significant increase in adventure clubs and mountaineering activities, leading to a resurgence in Indian mountaineering. [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10]
Tenzing Norgay, born Namgyal Wangdi, and also referred to as Sherpa Tenzing, was a Nepalese-Indian Sherpa mountaineer. He was one of the first two people known to certainly 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.
Bachendri Pal is an Indian mountaineer. In 1984, she became the first Indian woman to climb the summit of the world's highest mountain, Mount Everest. She was awarded the third highest civilian award in India, Padma Bhushan by the Government of India in 2019.
Nawang Gombu was a Sherpa mountaineer who was the first man in the world to have climbed Mount Everest twice.
Major Hari Pal Singh Ahluwalia was an Indian mountaineer, author, social worker and Indian Ordnance Factories Service (IOFS) 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.
Harish Chandra Singh Rawat was a mountaineer who climbed the Mt. Everest in 1965. He was one of the 9 summiters of the first successful Indian Everest Expeditions that climbed Mount Everest in May 1965 led by Captain M S Kohli. He is the 7th Indian man and 22nd man in world that climbed Mount Everest. On May 24, 1965 Vohra and Ang Kami Sherpa together reached the top of Mount Everest On May 29, 12 years to the day from the first ascent of Mount Everest the fourth and last summit team with Major H. P. S. Ahluwalia and Phu Dorjee Sherpa, Rawat reached on the summit. This was the first time three climbers stood on the summit together.
Chandraprabha Aitwal is an Indian mountain climber and one of the pioneers of Indian women mountaineers. She was awarded 2009 Tenzing Norgay National Adventure Award for Lifetime Achievement, given by the Indian Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports. She has climbed Nanda Devi, Kangchenjunga, Trishuli and Mt. Jaonli.
Gurdial Singh was an Indian schoolteacher and mountaineer who led the first mountaineering expedition of independent India to Trisul in 1951. In 1958, he led the team that made the first ascent of Mrigthuni . In 1965, he was a member of the first successful Indian expedition team to climb Mount Everest.
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.
Sonam Wangyal is a former Indian paramilitary personnel and mountaineer who climbed Mount Everest in 1965 at the age 23, making him the youngest summiter. He was one of the nine summiters of the first successful Indian Everest Expeditions that climbed Mount Everest in May 1965 led by Captain M S Kohli,. He is the 3rd Indian man, and 18th man in world, to have climbed Mount Everest. On 22 May 1965, the first time that the oldest and the youngest climbed Everest together.
Chandra Prakash Vohra is an Indian geologist, glaciologist and mountaineer who climbed Mount Everest, the highest peak in the world, in 1965. He was one of the 9 summiters of the first successful Indian Everest Expeditions that climbed Mount Everest in May 1965 led by Captain M S Kohli.On 24 May th 1965 Vohra and Ang Kami Sherpa together reached the top of Mount Everest,. He was the first Indian civilian to scale the peak a feat he accomplished on 24 May 1965. A winner of the Arjuna Award (1965), and the National Mineral Award, Vohra was honoured by the Government of India in 1965, with the award of Padma Shri, the fourth highest Indian civilian award,. He is the 4th Indian man and 19th man in world that climbed Mount Everest.
The South Summit is a subsidiary peak of Mount Everest in the Himalayas between the South Col and the main summit above sea level. Although the South Summit's elevation of 8,749 metres (28,704 ft) is higher than the second-highest mountain on Earth, it is not considered a separate mountain as its topographic prominence is only 11 meters.
Mohan Singh Gunjyal is an Indian mountaineer and adventure sportsman. He is one of the summiters of Mount Everest, entering the list when he successfully climbed the highest peak in the world on 12 May 1992. He achieved the feat, taking the Southeast ridge route via the south face, as a member of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police Everest expedition group, which included Santosh Yadav, the first woman to summit the peak twice within a year. He has received the Tenzing Norgay National Award for outstanding achievement from the President of India in 2004. He is a former Assistant Commandant of Indo-Tibetan Border Police and presently working as Director at the Uttarkashi-based Nanda Devi Institute of Adventure Sports and Outdoor Education. The Government of India awarded him with Tenzing Norgay National Adventure Award 2004 in lifetime achievement category and the fourth highest civilian honor of the Padma Shri, in 2006, for his contributions to the sport of mountaineering.
Sonam Gyatso (1923–1968) was an Indian mountaineer. He was the 2nd Indian man, the 17th man in world and first person from Sikkim to summit Mount Everest, the highest peak in the world. He was one of the nine summiters of the first successful Indian Everest Expeditions that climbed Mount Everest in May 1965 led by Captain M S Kohli. The first time that the oldest man at the time, Sonam Gyatso at age 42, and the youngest man Sonam Wangyal at age 23, climbed Everest together on 22 May 1965. He became the oldest person to scale the peak in 1965 and when he spent 50 minutes at the peak, he set a world record for spending the longest time at the highest point on Earth. The Government of India awarded him the third highest honour of the Padma Bhushan, in 1965, for his contributions to the sport of mountaineering.
Indian Mountaineering Foundation is an apex national body which organize and support, mountaineering and rock climbing expeditions at high altitudes in the Himalayas. The organization also promotes and encourages schemes for related adventure activities and environment-protection work in the Indian Himalayas. IMF has organized many expeditions to the high peaks in the Himalayas including Mount Everest.
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 summiter to do so within five days. It is also the fastest double ascent of the tallest crest by a woman. She is from Bomdila, headquarters of West Kameng district, Arunachal Pradesh - the state that holds the most north-eastern position in India. She was awarded India's fourth-highest civilian award the Padma Shri in 2021.
The role of The Doon School in Indian mountaineering describes the formative links between The Doon School, an all-boys boarding school in Dehradun, India, and early, post-Independence Indian mountaineering. From the 1940s onwards, Doon's masters and students like A.E. Foot, R.L. Holdsworth, J.A.K. Martyn, Gurdial Singh, Jack Gibson, Aamir Ali, Hari Dang, Nandu Jayal, were among the first to go on major Himalayan expeditions in a newly independent nation. These early expeditions contributed towards laying the foundation of mountaineering in an independent India. Mountaineer and chronicler Harish Kapadia wrote in his book Across Peaks & Passes in Garhwal Himalaya: "To my mind, it was when Gurdial Singh [then a Doon School master] climbed Trisul in 1951 that was the beginning of the age of mountaineering for Indians."
The 1965 Indian Everest Expedition reached the summit of Mount Everest on 20 May 1965. It was the first successful scaling of the mountain by an Indian climbing expedition.
Ang Kami Sherpa was the member of the third Indian Everest expedition, led by Captain M S Kohliin 1965 which was first Indian successful Everest Expedition climbed Mount Everest, consisted of 21 major expedition members and 50 Sherpas. The initial attempt was at the end of April 1965, when they returned to base camp due to bad weather and waited 2 weeks for better weather. Together with C. P. Vohra Ang Kami reached on the summit on 24 May 1965. He is the 5th Indian and 20th person in the world to have climbed Mount Everest.
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 ₹15 lakh (US$18,000)."
Subedar Major and Honorary Captain Chhering Norbu Bodh, SC, (retd.) is a retired personnel of the Indian Army, known for his mountaineering achievements while in the army. Bodh holds a number of Indian summiting records related to 8,000m peaks. Among others, he is the first Indian mountaineer to have climbed six of the fourteen 8000m peaks in the world, and the first Indian to stand atop Lhotse and Annapurna-1.