Shri S.P. Chamoli, founder of hai

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Shri S. P. Chamoli is a renowned Indian adventurer, mountaineer, and outdoor educator who has dedicated his entire life to the promotion of adventure sports and Himalayan exploration. A founding member of both the Indian Mountaineering Foundation (IMF) and the National Adventure Foundation, he has played a pioneering role in shaping adventure activities in India. He has also served as a Fellow of the Royal Geographic Society, Britain, and as a board member of the Adventure Training Committee of the UIAA. In addition, he served for seven years as the first Chairman of the National Sports Climbing Committee of the IMF, where he helped introduce and promote sports climbing in India.

A former Captain in the Indian Army and later Deputy Inspector General in the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), Shri Chamoli actively promoted adventure activities among officers and soldiers through mountaineering, skiing, and rafting expeditions. His passion for adventure began at a young age and continues even today. Even in his eighties, he remains actively involved in training programs designed to encourage young people to develop courage, leadership, teamwork, and risk-taking abilities through challenging outdoor activities such as mountaineering and mountain search and rescue.

Shri Chamoli trained more than 500 ONGC officers, 400 Scouts and Guides, 80 trainee officers from LBSNAA, and over a thousand school and college students. He has also conducted disaster-management and mountain search-and-rescue training for volunteers in remote Himalayan regions such as Kedarnath, Rudraprayag, and Uttarkashi.

Throughout his career, Shri Chamoli has achieved several remarkable milestones. In 1974 he successfully led the ITBP expedition that made the first ascent of the technically challenging Neelkanth Peak (21,640 ft) in the Garhwal Himalayas. In 1981 he led the historic Joint Indo-New Zealand Himalayan Traverse Expedition, becoming the first team to trek across the entire Himalayan range from Kanchenjunga to the Karakoram Pass. The team covered more than 5,000 kilometers, crossed 106 high passes ranging from 10,000 to 21,500 feet, and completed the expedition in about 265 days—one of the greatest endurance treks ever undertaken.

Another landmark achievement came in 1991 when he led the Joint Indo-Japanese Brahmaputra Rafting Expedition. The team successfully navigated the dangerous Tsangpo Gorge and rafted from Gelling in Arunachal Pradesh to Dhubri in Assam, completing one of the most challenging river rafting expeditions in the world.

Shri Chamoli has also led several successful mountaineering expeditions including climbs of Saser Kangri III, Swargarohini, Kedarnath Dome, and rafting expeditions on the Shyok River. He was instrumental in establishing the ITBP Mountaineering and Skiing Institute at Auli and played a key role in developing skiing and rafting in India.

In 1994 he founded the Himalayan Adventure Institute at Kempty Falls, Mussoorie. Through this institute he has trained more than 23,000 participants in mountaineering, rock climbing, disaster management, leadership, and outdoor education. His programs aim to build endurance, teamwork, leadership, and environmental awareness among youth.

An accomplished author, Shri Chamoli has written books such as Rafting Down the Mystic Brahmaputra and The Great Himalayan Traverse, along with numerous articles promoting adventure sports and Himalayan exploration.

For his distinguished service, he has been awarded the President’s Police Medal. Even today, he continues to inspire people with his message of motivation and adventure: “Moving mountains with a wee bit of motivation.”