Famed Indian climber nearly died on peak where team was lost

In this Tuesday, June 4, 2019, photo, Legendary Indian mountaineer Manmohan Singh Kohli, 88, looks out from the glass door of his farmhouse in New Delhi, India. To Manmohan Singh Kohli, who led the first Indian team to the peak of Mount Everest, modern mountaineering bears little resemblance to the expeditions he led decades ago. Operators’ tight schedules and climbers’ lack of experience has added risks, diminished the adventure and resulted in more casualties, including an expedition that went missing in the Indian Himalayas in late May. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)

In this Tuesday, June 4, 2019, photo, Legendary Indian mountaineer Manmohan Singh Kohli, 88, sits in his farmhouse in New Delhi, India. To Manmohan Singh Kohli, who led the first Indian team to the peak of Mount Everest, modern mountaineering bears little resemblance to the expeditions he led decades ago. Operators’ tight schedules and climbers’ lack of experience has added risks, diminished the adventure and resulted in more casualties, including an expedition that went missing in the Indian Himalayas in late May. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)

NEW DELHI – Modern mountaineering bears little resemblance to expeditions of decades ago.

Manmohan Singh Kohli, who led the first Indian team to the peak of Mount Everest, says tight schedules and climbers' lack of experience has added risks, diminished the adventure and resulted in more casualties.

That includes an expedition that went missing in the Indian Himalayas in late May. The eight members of a team led by a veteran British mountaineer are presumed dead in an avalanche.

Kohli, an 88-year-old retired navy captain, led nine Indian climbers to the top of Everest in 1965. He was celebrated for a feat that at the time few had attempted.

Fifty years later, a bustling commercial climbing industry has sprung up, providing services that have turned climbing Everest into what he calls "high-altitude tourism."