Chandra Prakash Vohra

Chandra Prakash Vohra is an Indian geologist, glaciologist and mountaineer who climbed Mount Everest, the highest peak in the world, in 1965 . He was one of the 9 summitersof the first successfulIndian Everest Expeditions that climbed Mount Everest onMay 1965 led byCaptain M S Kohli.On May 24 th 1965 Vohra and Ang Kami Sherpa together reached the top of Mount Everest, ,,, .He was the first Indian civilian to scale the peak a feat he accomplished on 24 May 1965. A winner of the Arjuna Award (1965), and the National Mineral Award, Vohra was honoured by the Government of India in 1965, with the award of Padma Shri, the fourth highest Indian civilian award,.He is the fourth Indian man and nineteenth man in world that climbed Mount Everest.

Chandra Prakash Singh Vohra did his schooling in Jammu and Kashmir and started his career with the Geological Survey of India (GSI). He spent his entire career with GSI becoming the firstdirector of the Division for Snow, Ice and Glacier Studies and retired in 1994 as its Director General. A geologist by profession, he carried out several geological expeditions and is known to have visited many glaciers around the world. He participated in three Everest expeditions and summitted the peak in 1965, becoming the first Indian civilian achieve the feat. In 1973, he was part of a team that explored Antarctica and was successful in camping at the southern tip of the continent. He was the leader of the landing group of the First Indian Expedition to Antarctica in 1981.

Vohra is a recipient of the National Mineral Award of the Ministry of Mines (India). The Government of India awarded him the civilian honour of Padma Shri in 1965 and he received the Arjuna Award, the second highest Indian sports award from the Sports Authority of India the same year. In 1996, in the golden jubilee year of Indian independence, Vohra was officially included in the list of the most outstanding geoscientists of Independent India. The Indian Mountaineering Foundation awarded him their Nain Singh-Kishen Singh Lifetime Achievement Award in 2010.

Chandra Prakash Vohra, post retirement from government service, is settled in Chandigarh, with his wife Satinder Vohra.