Arvind Raturi ( hi, अरविंद रतूड़ी; born 6 June 1992) is the youngest

mountaineer Mountaineering or alpinism, is a set of outdoor activities that involves ascending tall mountains. Mountaineering-related activities include traditional outdoor climbing, skiing, and traversing via ferratas. Indoor climbing, sport climbing, an ...

from

Uttarakhand Uttarakhand ( , or ; , ), also known as Uttaranchal ( ; the official name until 2007), is a state in the northern part of India. It is often referred to as the "Devbhumi" (literally 'Land of the Gods') due to its religious significance and ...

to scale

Mount Everest Mount Everest (; Tibetic languages, Tibetan: ''Chomolungma'' ; ) is List of highest mountains on Earth, Earth's highest mountain above sea level, located in the Mahalangur Himal sub-range of the Himalayas. The China–Nepal border ru ...

at the age of 20. As a member of the NCC (

National Cadet Corps National Cadet Corps may refer to: *Bangladesh National Cadet Corps * National Cadet Corps (Ghana) *National Cadet Corps (India) * National Cadet Corps (Pakistan) *National Cadet Corps (Singapore) *National Cadet Corps (Sri Lanka) The Nation ...

) Mt Everest Expedition 2013, Arvind summited the world’s highest peak on 19 May 2013 at 0730 hours (IST). Arvind is a resident of Rindol village of Pratapnagar Tehsil in

Tehri Garhwal district Tehri Garhwal is a district in the hill state of Uttarakhand, India. Its administrative headquarters is at New Tehri. The district has a population of 618, 931 (2011 census), a 2.35% increase over the previous decade. It is the 7th ranked distr ...

of Uttarakhand, India.

NCC Pre-Everest Expeditions and training

To select the team for Mt Everest Expedition, 108 (one hundred and eight) NCC boy cadets were shortlisted from across the country and trained at Nehru Institute of Mountaineering,

Uttarkashi Uttarkashi, meaning Varanasi, Kashi of the north, is a town located in Uttarkashi district in Uttarakhand, India. Uttarkashi town is headquarters of the district. Uttarkashi is also known as Somya Kashi. Uttarkashi is a religious place for spir ...

. Thereafter, forty cadets were selected for the next stage i.e. Mount

Deo Tibba Deo Tibba is a mountain located in Kullu District, Himachal Pradesh, India at a height of 5,985 metres. It is situated in the Pir Panjal Range The Pir Panjal Range ( Kashmiri: ) is a group of mountains in the Lesser Himalayan region, runn ...

Expedition (6,001 m/ 19,688 ft). The peak is located in District

Kullu Kullu is a municipal council town that serves as the administrative headquarters of the Kullu district of the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. It is located on the banks of the Beas River in the Kullu Valley about north of the airport at Bh ...

Himachal Pradesh Himachal Pradesh (; ; "Snow-laden Mountain Province") is a state in the northern part of India. Situated in the Western Himalayas, it is one of the thirteen mountain states and is characterized by an extreme landscape featuring several peaks ...

with treacherous snow and ice slopes of gradient between 50-75 degrees. After successful expedition to Mount Deo Tibba in June 2012, 15 (fifteen) cadets were selected for the next Pre-Everest Expedition to Mount

Kamet Kamet ( hi, कामेत) is the second highest mountain in the Garhwal region of Uttarakhand, India, after Nanda Devi. It lies in the Chamoli District of Uttarakhand. Its appearance resembles a giant pyramid topped by a flat summit area w ...

. Mount Kamet at 7,756 m/ 25,446 ft is the third highest peak in

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

located in Garhwal region of Uttarakhand and is the highest peak which is permitted to be climbed in India. Nine cadets were finally selected and sent for winter acclimatization training to

Siachen Glacier The Siachen Glacier is a glacier located in the eastern Karakoram range in the Himalayas at about , just northeast of the point NJ9842 where the Line of Control between India and Pakistan ends. At long, it is the longest glacier in the Kar ...

exposing them to extreme cold conditions where minimum temperatures fell to minus 50 (fifty) degrees Celsius.

NCC Mt Everest Expedition 2013

The NCC Mt Everest Expedition Team 2013 was led by Col S.C. Sharma, a renowned mountaineer, with 18 (eighteen) members: nine cadets from the NCC and nine

Indian Army The Indian Army is the land-based branch and the largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Army, and its professional head is the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), who is a four- ...

personnel. The team of 18 members consisted of 14 climbing members and four support staff. Eight NCC cadets and four

Army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

personnel scaled

in two teams on 19 and 20 May 2013. The NCC cadets who scaled the peak were Cadets Khimi Ram, Ashwani Kumar, Rajat and Karma Dawa of

, Cadets Bidya Chand Singh and Chirom Shangkar Singh from

Manipur Manipur () ( mni, Kangleipak) is a state in Northeast India, with the city of Imphal as its capital. It is bounded by the Indian states of Nagaland to the north, Mizoram to the south and Assam to the west. It also borders two regions of ...

, Cadet Sandeep Rai from

West Bengal West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the fou ...

and Cadet Arvind Raturi from

. The

personnel who scaled the peak were Subedar Jagat Singh Negi of Dogra Scouts, Havildar Rafiq Ahmed Malik of JAK LI, Havildar Raghuveer Chand of

Garhwal Rifles The Garhwal Rifles, formerly known as the Royal Garhwal Rifles, are an infantry regiment of the Indian Army. It was originally raised in 1887 as the 39th (Garhwal) Regiment of the Bengal Army. It then became part of the British Indian Army, and a ...

and Rifleman Ramesh Bahadur Thapa of

3rd Gorkha Rifles The 3rd Gorkha Rifles or Third Gorkha Rifles, abbreviated as 3 GR is an Indian Army infantry regiment. It was originally a Gurkha regiment of the British Indian Army formed in 1815. This regiment recruit mainly Magars and Khas/Chhetri tribes. T ...

. Arvind was part of the first team that left

Base Camp Mountaineering or alpinism, is a set of outdoor activities that involves ascending tall mountains. Mountaineering-related activities include traditional outdoor climbing, skiing, and traversing via ferratas. Indoor climbing, sport climbing, an ...

on 16 May 2013 occupying Camp II, Camp III and Camp IV (

South Col The South Col is a sharp-edged col between Mount Everest and Lhotse, the highest and fourth-highest mountains in the world, respectively. The South Col is typically swept by high winds, leaving it free of significant snow accumulation. Since 1950 ...

) and summitted on 19 May 2013 at 0730 hrs (IST).

Recognition and awards

The NCC Mt Everest Expedition Team 2013 was welcomed by Director General of NCC Lt Gen P.S. Bhalla who remarked that history was created by this young team to be the "First pure NCC Expedition to summit the pinnacle of glory "The

". The team was congratulated by

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...

Dr. Manmohan Singh at the NCC Rally 2014 in

New Delhi New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament Ho ...

who was quoted as saying "I wish to take this opportunity to compliment the NCC Boy Cadets for scaling the world’s highest peak in their first-ever

Expedition. It is a tribute to their teamwork, planning, stamina and skill. The nation is proud of their achievements". The nine cadets forming part of NCC Everest Expedition Team 2013 were conferred the Raksha Mantri Padak by Defence Minister A.K. Antony at the NCC Republic Day Camp 2014 in New Delhi. The Raksha Mantri Padak was instituted in 1989 and since then, is awarded to the most deserving cadets every year for bravery or exceptional service of highest order.

Other interests

Arvind is professionally trained in aquatic adventure sports including kayaking, canoeing,

water skiing Water skiing (also waterskiing or water-skiing) is a surface water sport in which an individual is pulled behind a boat or a cable ski installation over a body of water, skimming the surface on two skis or one ski. The sport requires suffic ...

and surfing.

Community service

Arvind is trained in

mountain rescue Mountain rescue refers to search and rescue activities that occur in a mountainous environment, although the term is sometimes also used to apply to search and rescue in other wilderness environments. This tends to include mountains with tech ...

from Nehru Institute of Mountaineering (NIM)

. He was actively involved in the rescue operations during 2013 flash floods in the

Kedarnath Kedarnath is a town and Nagar Panchayat in Rudraprayag district of Uttarakhand, India, known primarily for the Kedarnath Temple. It is approximately 86 kilometres from Rudraprayag, the district headquarter. Kedarnath is the most remote of t ...

valley in

References

External links

NCC Cadets create history by scaling Mount Everest (Hindi) - Doordarshan News on YouTube

NCC Mt Everest Expedition 2013 Photostory - News Nation
{{DEFAULTSORT:Raturi, Arvind Indian summiters of Mount Everest Mountain climbers from Uttarakhand Indian mountain climbers Living people 1992 births People from New Tehri People from Tehri Garhwal district