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About
Harish Kapadia
HARISH
KAPADIA began climbing and trekking in the range around Bombay, the
Western Ghats. His first
visit to
the Himalaya was almost 40 years ago. He has never looked back since,
still trekking and climbing actively. His main contribution to Himalayan
climbing has been to explore unknown areas and, in number of cases, to open up
climbing possibilities. Some of his major ascents have been of Devtoli (6788
m), Bandarpunch West (6102 m), Parilungbi (6166 m), and last year in 1995,
Lungser Kangri (6666 m) the highest peak of Rupshu in Ladakh. He led five
international joint expeditions, four with the British and two with the
French, to high peaks, like Rimo(7385 m), Chong Kumdan I (7071 m), Sudarshan
Parbat, Panch Chuli and Rangrik Rang groups. Earlier,
in 1974 he fell in a crevasse at 6200 m, deep inside the formidable Nanda Devi
Sanctuary. He was carried by his companions for 13 days to the base camp where
an helicopter rescued him. He was operated for a dislocated hip-joint and had
to spend two year walking on crutches. But that did not keep him out for too
long and he has climbed for three decades after the injury.
Harish
has a degree in Commerce, Law and Management from Bombay University and he is
a cloth merchant by profession. He has published twelve books. His Trek
The Sahyadris has now become a standard reference for all trekkers in the
Western Ghats. His other books, Exploring
the Hidden Himalaya (with Soli
Mehta) and High Himalaya Unknown Valleys
and Meeting The Mountains cover
his various trips to the Himalaya, while Spiti
Adventures in the Trans-Himalaya, cover climbing and trekking in that
region. He is the editor of the prestigious Himalayan
Journal for past 28 years, bringing the journal to international standards
and continuing it as a major authentic reference on the range. He
was elected the Honorary Member of the Alpine Club. London He was a Vice
President of the Indian Mountaineering Foundation (1997-1999).He was awarded
the IMF Gold Medal by the Indian Mountaineering Foundation in 1993. In 2003,
Her Majesty the Queen approved the award of the Patron's Medal of the Royal
Geographic Society to him. Harish
was invited to many countries to lecture on his Himalayan exploits, and is a
member of several organisations. He is married,and lives in Bombay.
His son Lt. Nawang Kapadia , who was commissioned on September 2, 2000 in the Fourth Battalion the Third Gorkha Rifles, died while gallantly fighting Pakistan based terrorists in the jungles of Rajwar in Kupwara district of Srinagar on 11th November 2000. Since then Harish Kapadia has taken to lecturing about this conflict, particularly in the Siachen Glacier. He has been discussing a proposal for a peace park for Siachen and cleaning up the environmental damage there, in the memory of his son. The family maintains Nawang's web-memorial at www.nawang.com |
