Internationally
renowned mountaineer, Captain
M.S. Kohli, belongs
to the exclusive band of three
climbers in the world who in
1962 spent three nights at 27,650
feet on Everest, two without
oxygen. He led the first successful
Indian Expedition to Mount Everest
in 1965 which put nine climbers
on the summit. He climbed nanda
Kot (22,510 feet) in 1959 and
made the maiden ascent of highly
challenging Annapurna III (24,
858 feet) in 1961 after high-altitude
bandits had looted the Base
Camp, taking two team members
as hostages. From 1965 to 1968
he led the world's longest and
highly sensitive Indo-American
expedition to Nanda Devi and
Nanda Kot.
He
was closely associated with
the Indian Mountaineering Foundation
for 14 years, 10 years as Vice-President
and 4 years as President. He
developed the Indo-Tibetan Border
Police into a formidable mountaineering
organisation with a tally of
over 100 Himalayan summits.
In 1977, he joined Sir Edmund
Hillary in 'From the Ocean to
the Sky', jet-boat expedition
from Bay of Bengal to the source
of Ganges, which heralded white-water
rafting in India. On October
14, 1989, in consultation with
Sir Edmund Hillary he founded
the Himalayan Environment Trust
to save the Himalayas for future
generations.
Padma
Bhushn and Arjuna awardee, Captain
Kohli was born on 11 December,
1931 at Haripur in the hilly
Hazara district of North-West
Frontier. He has authored 20
books. On 8 September, 1965,
he was given the rare honour
of addressing Members of both
the Houses of Indian Parliament.
