Harish Chandra Singh Rawat

Harish Chandra Singh Rawat( July 3, 1934 - January 20, 2008) was a mountaineer who scaled the Mt Everest in 1965. He was the grandson of Pt Kishen Singh of Pandit brothers’ fame, who surveyed Tibet.

Biography

Harish was born into a family of mountaineers. Rawat’s grandfather, Rai Bahadur Kishan Singh, known as AK Pandit, and his grandfather’s cousin, Nain Singh were the Indian pioneers to survey the country. They were with the Survey of India. Rai Bahadur went to the Pamirs through Nepal and surveyed the area and later explored Tibet for four years before coming back home to Pittoragarh in Kumaon Himalayas. Rawat was fired by the spirit of his family’s quest and drew inspiration from their exploratory deeds.

Expeditions

Sh Rawat participated in a number of expeditions including Nanda Devi, Kanglacha, Haathi Parvat, Trishuli, Rathong, Nandakhat and Nun Kun.In 1962, he led a party, including Sonam Wangyal, another Everester of the 1965 expedition to Kanglacha, 30 miles south of Leh. In 1963, Rawat climbed Hathi Parbat and a year later he was part of the Trisuli and Nanda Devi East expedition. In the pre-Everest preparations, he climbed Rathong.

During and after his Everest climb, Rawat participated in a joint expedition operation by the Indian Intelligence and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) of the USA to Nanda Devi peak to explore Chinese nuclear possibilities.In 1964, Rawat survived a 3500 feet fall in an avalanche during their Nanda Devi East Expedition.

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