M.S. Kohli: The Naval Officer Who Led India to Everest

A naval officer with Himalayan climbing experience

Manmohan “Mohan” Singh Kohli was born on 11 December 1931 in Haripur. The town lay in the North-West Frontier Province of British India. It is now in Pakistan.

Kohli served in the Indian Navy and later worked with the Indo-Tibetan Border Police. He led teams on Himalayan climbs.

In 1961, he led the first ascent of Annapurna III. He also gained experience on India’s earlier Everest expeditions. In 1964, he was appointed leader of the next Indian Everest attempt.

Kohli died on 23 June 2025, aged 93. His career included climbing, planning climbs, writing and protecting mountains.

Sources: Kohli profile. · Life story. · Kohli’s book.

Nine climbers reached the summit in four teams

The expedition achieved India’s first successful ascent of Everest. Earlier Indian attempts in 1960 and 1962 had turned back below the summit.

The nine summiters climbed in four teams, rather than one group of nine. The first three summit teams each had two climbers. The final team had three.

Avtar Singh Cheema and Nawang Gombu reached the summit on 20 May. Gombu had already climbed Everest in 1963. He became the first person to reach its summit twice.

The expedition made India the fourth nation with a successful Everest expedition. The first was the British expedition in 1953. Swiss and American expeditions followed.

Sources: Everest climb account. · Everest speech.

Why does the leader differ from a summiter?

Leading an expedition does not mean personally reaching its summit. Kohli led the Everest team. His name is absent from the nine successful summiters listed above.

The expedition needed camps, ropes, food, oxygen, weather information and communications. Other climbers carried loads and helped summit teams move between camps.

Oxygen supplies limited the number of summit attempts. When an avalanche buried oxygen bottles, team members dug them out. Recovering those bottles helped the final summit team continue.

Think of a relay team’s preparation. A result depends on more than the person crossing the finish line. The comparison explains teamwork; it does not make mountaineering a race.

The nine-summiter total was a record for one Everest expedition at the time. A German-French expedition placed more climbers on top in 1978, 13 years later.

Sources: Everest climb account. · 1978 climb account.

A surveillance operation with a different objective

The 1965 Nanda Devi mission was a covert India–United States operation. Kohli led its team of climbers. The aim was to monitor China’s nuclear and missile activities.

A high Himalayan location offered a vantage point for spy gear. The mission sought intelligence, while the Everest expedition sought a climb to the top. The two operations shared a leader and year, but had different purposes.

Severe weather forced the Nanda Devi team to turn back. The climbers left gear on the mountain because they could not bring it down safely. A later search failed to locate the missing gear.

Sources: Mission interview. · Kohli’s book. · India–US record.

What does “nuclear-powered” mean here?

The gear’s power source contained plutonium-238. This radioactive material gives off heat as it decays. A generator can turn that heat into electric power.

The generator supplied power to spy gear. It was not a nuclear bomb. People fear a leak because the fuel is radioactive.

Keep three parts separate: radioactive fuel, electricity supply and spy gear. The fuel supplied heat. The generator produced electricity. The powered gear gathered or sent signals.

Sources: Nanda Devi and Nanda Kot. · Heat and power.

Searches, later gear and environmental uncertainty

Search teams returned to Nanda Devi in 1966 and 1967. They did not recover the missing device. A new device was installed on nearby Nanda Kot in 1967.

Do not treat a Nanda Kot installation as recovery of the original Nanda Devi gear. A new device and a missing device are different objects.

The concern is a possible leak of radioactive fuel into streams feeding the Ganga river system. A route for a leak does not prove that a leak took place.

The 2021 Chamoli disaster should also be kept separate from speculation about the device. Research identified a large rock-and-ice avalanche from Ronti Peak as the disaster’s trigger.

The study does not link the lost power source to the rock-and-ice fall. A failed search also does not prove that the lost fuel is safe.

Sources: Mission interview. · Mission history. · Nanda Devi and Nanda Kot. · Chamoli study.

Recognition, conservation and writing

Kohli received the Padma Bhushan for his Everest leadership. The expedition’s members also received the Arjuna Award. Read about the wider National Sports Awards framework.

In 1989, Kohli established the Himalayan Environment Trust with support from Sir Edmund Hillary and other mountaineers. The trust promoted protection of the Himalayan environment.

He served as President of the Indian Mountaineering Foundation from 1989 to 1993. He helped run the sport and worked to protect the mountains.

His books include Nine Atop Everest and Spies in the Himalayas. The latter, written with Kenneth Conboy, covers the secret mountain missions.

For revision, connect each achievement with its purpose. Everest concerns expedition leadership. Nanda Devi concerns intelligence gathering and an unresolved lost device. The trust concerns mountain conservation.

Sources: Team awards. · Kohli profile. · Life story. · Kohli’s book.