Born from the dream of a few, who dare to look up at the peaks and say let’s climb! Nainital mountaintaineering club has grown into a community of explorers, who turn challenge into milestones, and mountains into memories. 

After climbing Mount Everest, Sir Edmund Hillary said it’s not the mountain we conquer, but ourselves. This is the spirit which 57 years ago motivated a farsighted visionary, Shri Chandra Lal Shah Thulgharia to establish the Nainital Mountaineering Club, NTMC.

To appreciate the importance of this achievement. We need to travel back in our imagination to the late 1960s. That was a time when Nainital was a tiny, quaint hill station in the state of Uttar Pradesh known more for its excellent boarding schools and hotels and visited by a relatively small number of tourists. That was a time when there was no globalization, no Internet, no Google, and no YouTube. Doordarshan TV had just been introduced.

The concept of rock climbing and mountaineering was alien in this part of the world. Shri Chandra Lal Sah wanted youth to imbibe the spirit of adventure and give direction to their energy. ‘Catch them young’ was his philosophy, and he was able to do so!

Single handedly, Sri CL Sah Thulgharia approached all the schools, visited individual households and convinced parents to send their children for rock climbing. Soon the club became a hub of activities and hundreds of children were introduced to technical rock climbing. The courses started with a one day Scrambling course and continued with three day Introductory, 5 day Elementary, seven day Standard and 12 day Higher certified courses. 

Membership too had various categories, including membership for toddlers along with a choice of a regular Individual, Life and Institutional membership. Sri Chandralal Sah managed to get nearly all the Nainital schools to subscribe to the Institutional membership.

Equally vital for the success of the club was the formation of the initial team of dedicated instructors including Mr. Anup Sah, Mr. Nirmal Sah, Mr. Jagdish Bisht, Mr. J. C Dhondiyal, Mr. Kausar Nazar Khan, Mr. Girish Chandra Sah, Mr. BC Nainwal, Mr. Pramod Sah and Mr. Harish Melkani. This core team shared a common passion and enthusiasm and thus successfully trained hundreds of youngsters and students in rock climbing.

A mountaineering exhibition was organized at the Nainital Municipal Stadium in collaboration with the Nehru Institute of Mountaineering (NIM) Uttarkashi, Tourism Department of Uttar Pradesh and Nainital Nagarpalika which became a permanent mountaineering museum. It was also recognized by the Cultural Department of the Government of Uttar Pradesh. The Club also conducted mobile mountaineering exhibition in scores of institutions. 

1972 was a landmark year for the club when a team of instructors under the leadership of Mr. Girish Chandra Sah and deputy leader Mr. Anup Sah climbed both Nandakhat (6611m) and Bailjuri (5922m). Nandakhat had remained unascended previously and in fact, two people had lost their lives while trying to attempt it. The team members comprised of Shri Swami Sundaranand ji (incharge photography), Mr. Ratan Singh, Lt. Jagdish Dhondiyal (Treasurer), Mr. Kausar Nazar Khan, Mr. Bhuwan Chandra Nainwal, Mr. Mohan Singh Bisht and Dr. Dwarika Prasad Pandey (medical officer).  The support team comprised of Shri Chandra Lal Sah Thulgharia, Mr. Jagdish Bisht, Mr. Arun Sah, Mr. Nirmal Sah and Mr. Deep Sah.

To perpetuate the memory of late Major H. V.  Bahuguna, the NTMC in 1972 decided to set up the “Harsh Bahuguna Memorial Fund (HBMF)”. Major Bhaguna was a mountaineer and so it was thought most befitting to set up a ‘pool’ of mountaineering and trekking equipment to be named after him. It would not only be a tribute to him, but would also benefit large number of youth, year after year, by enabling them to engage in healthy outdoor adventure in the mountains that Major Bahuguna so loved.  The HBMF was formally inaugurated by the Governor of UP, Sri B. Gopala Reddy, Union Minister of State Shri K. C. Pant, President of the IMF Sri. H. C. Sarin and Mrs. HV Bahuguna. Only three funds were sponsored by the Indian Mountaineering Foundation (IMF) in India. The first is the Nandu Juyal Memorial Fund in Darjeeling operated through Himalayan Mountaineering Institute (HMI). The second is the Dias Memorial Store in Uttarkashi operated through Nehru Institute of Mountaineering and the third is the Harsh Bahuguna Memorial Fund which is being operated through The Nainital Mountaineering Club (NTMC). 

The club also participated in a joint expedition with the Japanese to survey wildlife and biodiversity in the Nanda Devi Sanctuary in 1974, and subsequently, the team went on to scale Devisthan ( 6678 meter). It is also noteworthy that a lake situated at an altitude of 16,000 feet on the northern end of Nanda Devi was named “Rishi Tal” by Mr. Anup Sah, a member of this expedition.

In1980 the birders of the NTMC came together and formed a Birder’s group called “Kalchunnia’s”, led by NTMC Vice President Shri Narendra Singh. 

Col. J C Joshi, Arjuna awardee, accomplished mountaineer and ex Principal, Nehru Institute of Mountaineering (NIM) Uttarkashi devoted most of his retired life to The Nainital Mountaineering Club (NTMC), where he was Hon. General Secretary for nine years, from 1989 to 1996.

In the year 1990 another achievement of the club was to attempt the peak Maiktoli (6803m) in the Garhwal Himalayas. The Club has to its credit of being the first Indian team to climb the peak through an extremely steep route on the South face. This successful expedition was led by Colonel J. C Joshi with the team comprising Mr. Anit Sah, Mr. Deepak Bisht, Mr. Jagat Singh Bisht and Mr.Anil Bisht.

A significant highlight of the club was when Mr. Anit Sah and Mr.Deepak Bisht were selected as members of the 1992 Everest Expedition organized by the Sports and Research Foundation of India, Pune. At 20 years of age, they were the youngest members of the team. In 2018, Mr. Manoj Joshi from Uttarakhand Police who did a 20 day Search and Rescue Course from the Club climbed Mount Everest as part of an expedition organized by the Uttarakhand Police Department. Mr. Manoj Rawat, another trainee who completed this course, was also a member of the team.

To encourage adventure activities, the club provides scholarships to its members and through this many members have been able to avail training in mountaineering. To encourage people to become trainers, schemes like Earn While You Learn have also been implemented.

In 1994, the Club celebrated its Silver Jubilee by crossing Trails Pass (5312 m) at the head of the Pindari Glacier. This feat was accomplished after a gap of 53 years of the previous crossing of the Pass, under the able leadership of Mr. Anup Sah. The successful team comprised of Mr. Naveen Tewari, Mr. Subodh Chandola, Km. Lata Joshi, Dr. S. S. Pangtey, Mr. Anil Bisht, Mr. Kirti Chandra, Mr. Ashraf Ali, Mr. Aslam Ali, Mr. Gajendra Bora and Mr. Prem Bahadur (HAP). The other team members included Mr. Neeraj Kumar, Mr. Rajesh Joshi, Mr. Bhuvan Chandra Pande, Mr. Threesh Kapoor and Lt. Col J. C. Joshi (technical Advisor). The supporting trekking team included Dr. Raghuvir Chand, Mr. Rajesh Sah, Mr. Kishan Lal Sah, Mr. Rakesh Sah, Mr Saumitr Pathak, Mr. Siddhartha Sah, Mr. Mandeep Singh and Km. Priyanka Sah. 

The club has also organized many trekking expeditions, photography exhibitions and environmental workshops. These are too numerous to be listed, but they have formed an essential outreach program to attract young and old alike and spark further interest in the Himalayas at a very doorstep.

One measure of the regard commanded by the club is that the Uttarakhand government gave the club the responsibility of organizing 20 day search and rescue courses for police personnel and other government employees. A total of 980 participants received training under the scheme. 

Over the years, numerous initiatives were launched. The club gave gentlemen cadets from the National Defence Academy and the Indian Military Academy rock climbing training. Students from Roorkee University and Pantnagar University among others regularly participate in our activities. The club constructed a sports climbing wall in 2007 at its training area at Barapatthar and later that year the ‘North Zone’ competition was held there. Since then, many competitions have been organized on the climbing wall.

So far, the club has organized 147 introductory, 92 elementary, 242 standard, 13 higher and 29 search and rescue courses. Apart from this, thousands of children have participated in scrambling and other day long activities in our training area. The total number of participants easily crosses the 40,000 mark. The Club shall continue to remain dedicated to promoting adventure sports and to spread environmental awareness among the youth of all ages, for as Barry Finley writes in his book, ‘Kilimanjaro and Beyond’: ‘Every mountain top is within reach if you just keep climbing’.