Sonam Wangyal

Sonam Wangyal (born 1942) is a former Indian paramilitary personnel and mountaineer who climbed Mount Everest in 1965 at the age 23, making him the youngest summiter.^[1][2] He was one of the nine summiters of the first successful Indian Everest Expeditions that climbed Mount Everest in May 1965 led by Captain M S Kohli.^{[3][4][5][6][7][8]} He is the 3rd Indian man, and 18th man in world, to have climbed Mount Everest. On 22 May 1965, the first time that the oldest (Sonam Gyatso at age 42) and the youngest (Sonam Wangyal at age 23) climbed Everest together.

Sonam Wangyal
Born	1942 (age 82–83) Ladakh, India
Allegiance	India
Awards	Padma Shri Arjuna Award

Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi meets the members of Indian Everest Expedition 1965 on the occasion of the expedition's Golden Jubilee on 20 May 2015

Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi meets the members of Indian Everest Expedition 1965 on the occasion of the expedition's Golden Jubilee on 20 May 2015

1965 Indian stamp dedicated to the 1965 Everest Expedition

Kohli, who had led the 1965 Everest expedition, recruited Wangyal to join a team on a secretive mission to Nanda Devi. The joint CIA / Indian Intelligence Bureau mission involved placing a nuclear listening device on the mountain in 1965 with subsequent visits in 1966 and 1967.^[9]

Currently, he is serving as a principal at Sonam Gyatso Mountaineering Institute.^[10]

Honors and awards

He was honoured with the Padma Shri in 1965,^[11][12] followed by the Arjuna Award in 1965 and then Tenzing Norgay National Adventure Award 2017 in lifetime achievement category.^[13] He served as the Principal of the Sonam Gyatso Mountaineering Institute in Gangtok (Sikkim) from 1976 to 1990. He retired as Assistant Director of the Intelligence Bureau in 1993, and now lives in Leh.^[14]