Other Ranges (Articles)

• 1996 Indian Himalaya-The Alpine Club Symposium

  It is indeed a pleasure to be here with so many mountaineers. Things were a little different when Sir Bonington invited me at first. It was on a hot morning in May that he phoned me inviting me to this gathering. I was sitting contentedly enjoying an alphonso mango. more details…

• 1978 The Journey of the Journal

  The 35th issue of the Himalayan Journal (H.J.) was on its way when I joined the editorial team. Soli Mehta was proceeding to Nigeria for a few years and he was looking for an assistant.   more details…

• Himalayan Club Newsletter

  With this simple note, the first ever Newsletter of the Himalayan Club was published in August 1951. Consisting of four pages, it covered news from various sections of the Club and travel in the Himalaya. more details…

• 1989 Two Editors Par Excellence-R. E. Hawkins-Soli Mehta

  With this simple note, the first ever Newsletter of the Himalayan Club was published in August 1951. Consisting of four pages, it covered news from various sections of the Club and travel in the Himalaya. more details…

• 1974 Meeting with Dr. Odell

  For many years, in various books, I had read about Shipton, Tilman and Odell. They had become my heroes. And what does one do when there is a chance to meet one of them suddenly? Prof. Noel Odell was in Bombay on 14 November 1974 for the premier of a romantic Hindi film! more details…

• 2000 Himalayan Club – A Continuing Tradition

  “And so the Himalayan Club is founded and we hope great things of it; the geographer that the blank spaces on our map may be filled in, the scientist that our knowledge of the Himalaya, its rocks and glaciers, its animals and plants, its peoples and their way of living, may continually expand; the artist that its glories may continually inspire fine pictures. more details…

   

• 2013 Himalayan Disasters – Nature’s Fury or Manmade Calamity?

  On night of 15-16 June 2013, scientists at Wadia Institute’s weather stations recorded 315 mm of rain in Kedarnath valley, which is extremely rare for this part of the year. The rain soon brought down huge avalanches from the glacier slopes of Kedarnath peak and the nearby ‘Rock Tower’ peak.. more details…

• It Does Not Rain In Northern Kenya- Trekking in Kenya

  My earliest memories of East Africa are those of when as a child, I saw a Hindi film known for its extravagant dances in which a vamp (during those days it was always the cabaret dancer, Helen) would be singing to a loud tune which would go as “Kenya, Uganda, Tanganyika” and suddenly from the wings 10-15 Negroes would jump out shouting “Mombassa, Mombassa, Mombassa” in as hoary a voice as possible. more details…

• Environmental Terrorists

  In mid May, 2006, a  group of friends from Mumbai trekked up the Obra Gad in the Western Garhwal. We had visited  this valley,  found tall grass and few days of heavy rain. Now in summer the grass had disappeared and the weather was “supposed to be” clear. more details…

• 1990 Nagadhiraj Himalaya

  INDIANS HAVE ALWAYS LOOKED UP to the Himalaya as the abode of snow, which this name literally means. Like in the above quote by the famous Indian bard, since time immemorial the Himalayan range has been called the jewel of the world. more details…

• 2019 Creation of Himalayan Club Archives

  The Himalayan Club, since its inception in 1928, has moved to various places. Initially formed in New Delhi, it later moved to Kolkata.Kolkata served as the Club’s headquarters until mid-1960s when a shortage of member-volunteers, caused a crisis in the management of Club affairs. more details…

• 2018 This is His Life-Harish Kapadia

  A chance encounter at the yoga class led to an acquaintance with him. As I walked into class, the students of the earlier batch gathered around me enquiring about a loud bang that they had just heard. lt was a mere tyre burst but somebody cheekily referred to me as ’the bomb lady’ This was Harishbhai   more details…

• From the President of The Himalayan Club – Patron’s Medal 

  Notable event was the award by Royal Geographical Society of its prestigious ‘Patron’s Medal’ to Harish Kapadia later in the year. It is a proud moment for Indian mountaineering, exploration and the Himalayan Club. There is more about the award, which is the highest that the RGS confers, in later pages in this volume.   more details…

• 2000 My Himalaya – An Introduction

  For me, the attraction for the mountains developed slowly. There was no love at first sight. Living in a congested area of Bombay till I was 28, I could have missed the mountains totally   more details…

• 1993 The Himalayan Mountaineering Institute Darjeeling at 40

  We sat around a roaring campfire. Raymond Lambert was visiting Sikkim as a special guest of Tenzing Norgay, and we, the students of the basic training course of the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute, were entertaining the guests in exchange for superb Scotch whisky   more details…

• 2000 A Brief History of the Indian Himalayan Ranges

  The Indian Himalaya extends westward, roughly from the point where the Brahmaputra river flows into Arunachal Pradesh. Dense forests pervade the eastern areas till the Bhutan border; the thick vegetation probably the reason why high peaks such as Kangto (7,042 m) and Nyegi Kangsang (6,983 m) in Arunachal Pradesh have not been attempted through India.  more details…

• Ten Mountain Personalities

  The speaker requires no introduction’. This is the cliché by which Jagdish C. Nanavati (also known as JCN) is introduced by most speakers to Bombay audiences. But one can say that Nanavati does require an introduction, for such a varied and energetic life needs to be elaborated upon.  more details…

• Younghusband: ‘Damned Rum Name’

  Sir Frances Younghusband was one of the prominent Founding Members of the Himalayan Club. Though his explorations were in the late 19th Century and early 20th Century, he was an important explorer to be consulted by Kenneth Mason to form the Himalayan Club in 1928. more details…