On Everest at 56, Negi wants more

negi.jpgS C Negi, Additional DIG BSF became the oldest Indian in the world to scale the world’s highest peak- Mount Everest on 24th May 2006.

Negi is Born on 08th March 1950 in Nesang village in Himachal Pradesh’s mountainous Kinnaur district. 57 year old Negi was the leader of 14 member BSF Mountaineering team which was flagged off by Hon’ble Home Minister Sh Shivraj Patil on 08th March 2006 from New Delhi. 06 members of the team have already scaled the peak on 20th May 2006.

‘One is never too old for adventure’, it fits perfect on a senior Border Security Force (BSF) official, who is the oldest Indian to climb Mount Everest.

Life begins at 40 they say, but for S C Negi, the adventure began at 50. An Additional Deputy bsf.jpgInspector General of BSF, 56-year-old Negi is the oldest Indian to climb Mount Everest. He is also the highest-ranking official to accomplish the feat.

In May when Negi first decided to lead a 14-member BSF Mount Everest expedition, it looked a tough call.

“Most of team members were half my age. I was 56, beard and all white. I had lot of difficulties enroute – the age caught up, your system may be very good but muscle power with age loses,” said Negi.

It was Negi’s disciplined life style and the rush of adrenalin that helped him. A resident of Kinnaur in Himachal Pradesh, his love for the hills and snow also worked in his favour.

But at over 29,000 feet, his age did catch up though his mind never wavered. And the Great Everest dream egged him on.

“For a mountaineer Everest is a Mecca, it is an ultimate (for) anyone who enters this field – normally people at a young age. But for this chance came in very late,” said Negi.

The Everest challenge is over. Negi is now training for a post-monsoon Kanchunchenga expedition next year.

At 56, Negi has done what many youngsters would not even dare. But there still many more heights to conquer and many more dreams to live.

Story from CNN-IBN

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4 Comments

  1. says: S Rahul Nair

    Sir

    Congrats sir.U have made the country proud of u and your team.I would certainly admire your endurance level.

    I also want to join BSF as an officer, so that I endeavour such task, so that I can make my country proud.

    Once more,on the behalf of whole nation Congratulation, sir.

    S RAHUL NAIR

    Email – [email protected]

  2. says: jitender negi

    you have made whole kinnaur,hp,and our country proud.

    best wishes for future endevours and new year greetings

  3. says: Ashok Gupta

    I felt delighted after going through the article posted by you. I am friend of Mr. S. C. Negi who became oldest Indian to climb mount everest in May 2006. in the implementation of new pay scale the Rank of Additional DIG was designated as DIG in BSF with effect from 01-01-2006, hence Kindly do the necessary correction in the Site. Mr. Negi Retired as DIG BSF, New Delhi from the services on 31-05-2010.

  4. says: Ajay

    True, why make a fuss over something that’s done anyway? I was never one to obsess about the past. Too much to do in the future! ”
    —Hillary

    Hillary climbed ten other peaks in the Himalayas on further visits in 1956, 1960–61, and 1963–65. He also reached the South Pole as part of the Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition, for which he led the New Zealand section, on 4 January 1958. His party was the first to reach the Pole overland since Amundsen in 1911 and Scott in 1912, and the first ever to do so using motor vehicles. In 1977, he led a jetboat expedition, titled “Ocean to Sky”, from the mouth of the Ganges River to its source.

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