Narendra Kumar (mountaineer)

Colonel Narendra Kumar, PVSM, KC, AVSM, FRGS (8 December 1933 – 31 December 2020) 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.

Kumar was born in Rawalpindi, British India on 8 December 1933, in a Punjabi Hindu family.

He had three brothers and two sisters; he and his brothers joined the Indian Army.

In 1947, he took part in the World Scout Jamboree to Paris at the age of 13, representing the then state of Punjab.

He returned to a partitioned India.

Most Muslims on his ship were de-boarded in Karachi while everyone else landed in Bombay.

His parents had moved to Shimla after the partition of India.

Kumar joined the Indian Army in 1950.

At the Joint Services Wing (then at the Indian Military Academy in Dehradun) he earned his nickname "Bull," during a boxing match against a senior cadet, Sunith Francis Rodrigues, later the Chief of the Army Staff.

He would lose that bout, but the nickname that he would earn from that fight, "Bull," would stay on through the rest of his career.

He was commissioned with the Kumaon Regiment, a regiment of the Indian Army, as a second lieutenant on 6 June 1954, and was promoted lieutenant on 6 June 1956.

During his service with the regiment, he was exposed to winter sports and mountaineering.

In 1958, when he opted for the mountaineering course at Himalayan Mountaineering Institute (HMI), Darjeeling, he was first refused by his Regimental Centre Commandant.

However, he was allowed when he expressed his readiness to skip his annual leave to complete the course.

After getting in, and with the Principal out on an expedition, Kumar was under Tenzing Norgay, one of the first two individuals known to ascend Mount Everest, who looked after the course as Director of Field Training.

Here his interest in mountaineering was further piqued.

He soon became a good friend of Tenzing Norgay.

He was also put in charge of the course for the officers.

As leader, Kumar's first expedition to the Trisul mountains was suggested by Norgay.

The expedition was initially sponsored by a New York Times correspondent.

When the Director of Military Intelligence got to know that the Principal of HMI was undertaking an expedition with foreign money, he stopped the entire program.

However, the HMI Principal provided an explanation to General Thimayya, the Chief of Army Staff.

General Thimayya crowdfunded the money, making Kumar rather unpopular at the time at his Regimental Centre.

Personally, he had to sell his motorbike and radio transistor to raise funds.

At the time, neither he nor the team had proper mountaineering gear.

For their feet, they would wear alternating layers of socks and polythene so as to keep their feet warm and dry.

In March 1958, he led the successful Army and Navy expedition to the Trisul mountains [23,360 ft].

Later in his career, Kumar would successfully ski down the Trisul mountains, the highest summit to ever be skied down at the time.

In 1959, senior Indian government officials sent a letter to all mountaineers about an Indian Everest expedition including information about its cost and contributions towards it.

Through his Brigade Commander, Kumar, who was still reeling from the finances of the first expedition, was able to contribute inr 50000 to the expedition.

A pre-expedition climb helped select the final team for the ascent and Kumar made it to the first list.

The final team was well prepared and well equipped.

It consisted of five climbers, a doctor, a signals officer, 50 Sherpas, and 70 porters (the porters would return from base camp).

However, the team was not able to successfully reach the summit.

Kumar became the first Indian to ascend to [28,700 ft].

He was promoted captain on 6 June of that year.

He was the deputy leader of the first successful Indian Mount Everest expedition in 1965.

He was a recipient of multiple military and civilian honours including the Param Vishisht Seva Medal, Kirti Chakra, and the Padma Shri.

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.