It’s been 50 years since the first Indian-led expedition successfully scaled the world's highest peak, Mount Everest. Nine members of the 1965 Indian team summited at the same time, a world record that was unbroken for 17 years.
Mount Everest was first conquered by New Zealand’s Edmund Hillary and Nepal's Tenzing Norgay in 1953. More than 4,000 climbers have scaled it since.
Despite environmental concerns, the world’s highest mountain continues to be the summit for human ambition, as each climbing season sees 700 mountaineers, who spend two months on trail. The Indian Army too is sending an expedition to Everest this season.
"The British had summited before us, so had the Americans and the Swiss. We simply had to do it for India," says 81 year-old Colonel N Kumar, speaking to The Times of India.
From the archives, here's a look at some of the milestones that have been broken over the years.
1 BCCL
Mountaineer Bachendri Pal, the first Indian woman to scale the Mount Everest in 1984, poses for The Times of India in Bombay.0 Mohammed Ilyas, BCCL
A photo shows George Leigh Mallory and other members of 1924 Everest expedition team in an art gallery in New Delhi on May 3, 1999.-1 BCCL
Mountaineer Mandip Singh Soin, who scaled the Mount Everest, is captured by The Times of India lenseye at his home on March 3, 1999.-2 Sanjay Sekhri, BCCL
Santosh Yadav, Indian mountaineer who scaled the Mount Everest twice in succession, in 1992 and 93, and was awarded Padam Shree, in New Delhi on June 12, 1992.-3 BCCL
Portrait of John Hunt, one of the team members, who conquered Mount Everest, in Delhi on January 19, 1953.-4 19-year-old Krushnaa Patil, an avid trekker from Pune who scaled Mount Everest last May and also Mt Vinson Massif, the tallest peak in Antarctica in December, inaugurated the 40-minute documentary 'Everest' at the Nehru Science Centre in Mumbai on February 1, 2010.-5 BCCL
Mark Inglis, double amputee, mountaineer and motivational speaker, in Mumbai on April 30, 2011. New Zealand mountaineer Mark Inglis, who lost his legs in a climbing accident 31 years ago, is the first double amputee to reach the summit of Mount Everest. The jolly Kiwi is in Mumbai city to deliver a series of motivational lectures to corporates, schools and whoever is willing to borrow inspiration from his survival story.-6 BCCL
Major Neha Bhatnagar from Jaipur conquers Mt. Everest on May 27, 2012.-7 Arunima Sinha, India's first amputee and the world's first female amputee to scale Mount Everest flashes victory sign during a press conference in Ranchi on May 31, 2013. The 26-year-old Arunima reached the summit on May 21, 2013. Arunima, a resident of Ambedkar Nagar in Uttar Pradesh, was pushed out of a moving train after she resisted a chain-snatching attempt by some criminals, as she was travelling from Lucknow to Delhi two years ago. One of her legs had to be amputated below the knee as a result.-8 Member of the successful Indian mountaineering team to Mount Everest in May 1965, Major H P S Ahluwalia (left sitting), presents his autobiography 'Higher Than Everest' to Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in New Delhi on May 11, 1973.
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