Neeraj Choudhary

Neeraj Choudhary (born 11 July 1984) is an Indian mountaineer, entrepreneur and polar explorer from the northwestern state of Rajasthan, India.[1][2][3]

Early life, education and employment

Neeraj was born in Abhaipura, Sikar District, Rajasthan. He pursued his Bachelor of Engineering (Honors) in civil engineering from MBM University, Jodhpur and later earned a Master of Technology (M.Tech.) degree in Environmental Engineering and Management from IIT Delhi in 2011.[4][5]

Since the schooldays, Neeraj was inclined to martial arts, cycling, marathon running, and later he developed a passion for climbing. He continued training for climbing during his college days and afterwards - resulting in Kilimanjaro summit in Africa and, many 6000m and 7000m summits in India - before attempting for the Mount Everest in the summer of 2021.

Neeraj has worked in multiple roles and capacities for a living alongside his professional training and expeditions. Before 2016, he had worked for Coal India Limited as environmental engineer, and currently works for state Water Resource department in Rajasthan in capacity of flood cell in-charge. In addition, he briefly served as an instructor at local engineering college at Jaipur before departing to continue his pursuit of mountaineering aspirations.

Mountaineering and polar expeditions

Choudhary is a skilled mountaineer and polar explorer. The following is a list of his notable achievements.

Mount Everest (8,848.86 m)

Neeraj successfully summited the world's highest peak on 31 May 2021 as part of an expedition organized by the Indian Mountaineering Foundation (IMF), under the aegis of Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, Govt of India, shortly after recovering from COVID-19.[6][7][8][9][10]

Horizontal Skiing across Greenland (Unassisted)

Neeraj completed the ski crossing from Kangerlussuaq (West Coast) to Isortoq (East Coast) in May 2024, covering nearly 600 km in 29 days. This achievement represents one of the first successful crossings by an Indian and the first from Rajasthan.[11][12][13]

Awards and recognition

Neeraj's contributions have been widely recognized by various bodies within India. Following his Everest summit, he was honored by the Director of his alma mater Indian Institute of Technology Delhi and post-recovery achievements in the same year.[14][15] The popular news media outlet Rajasthan Patrika included him in the best 40 under 40 years age Power List in the Sports & e-Gaming category.[16] In 2025, the Election Commission of India appointed him the State Election Icon in his home state for voter awareness campaigns among the people[17]. 

Mount Everest (2021)

See also

List of Indian summiteers of Mount Everest

References

  1. ^ a b "गर्व:अभयपुरा के नीरज चौधरी ने फतह किया माउंट एवरेस्ट, दल में शामिल होने वाले प्रदेश के अकेले पर्वतारोही". 2021-06-03.
  2. ^ "Height of resilience: IIT-Delhi alumnus fights off Covid-19, scales Everest". The Times of India. 2021-07-13. ISSN 0971-8257. Retrieved 2024-09-30.
  3. ^ "The Daily Guardian Jaipur - 31 Aug 2024 - Page 11". epaper.thedailyguardian.com (in Marathi). Retrieved 2024-11-04.
  4. ^ "IIT दिल्ली के पूर्व छात्र ने फतह किया एवरेस्ट, कोरोना से उबरने के सात हफ्ते के भीतर हासिल की कामयाबी - IIT delhi awarded to ex student Neeraj Choudhary for climbs Mount Everest". Jagran (in Hindi). Retrieved 2024-09-26.
  5. ^ "Rajasthan Patrika ePaper:hindi". epaper.patrika.com. Retrieved 2024-11-04.
  6. ^ "IIT Delhi alumnus scales Mt Everest within seven weeks of recovering from COVID-19". The New Indian Express. 11 July 2021.
  7. ^ "IIT Delhi Alumnus Neeraj Chaudhary scales Mt Everest post Covid recovery". India Today. 2021-07-11. Retrieved 2024-09-26.
  8. ^ "Onwards and upwards: How one man defeated Covid to scale Mt Everest". 15 July 2021.
  9. ^ Staff Reporter (2021-07-10). "IIT-D felicitates alumnus for climbing Mt. Everest". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 2024-09-26.
  10. ^ தினத்தந்தி (2021-07-12). "கொரோனாவில் இருந்து மீண்டவர் எவரெஸ்ட் சிகரம் ஏறி சாதனை". www.dailythanthi.com (in Tamil). Retrieved 2024-09-30.
  11. ^ "Ousland Explorers - Diary-GRL-Ine". Ousland Explorers. Retrieved 2024-09-26.
  12. ^ "माउंटेनियर नीरज ने ग्रीनलैंड आइस शीट क्रोसिंग की:-30 डिग्री तापमान में तय की 600 किलोमीटर की दूरी". Bhaskar. 3 June 2021.
  13. ^ "Ousland Explorers - Diary-GRL-Ine". Ousland Explorers. Retrieved 2024-09-30.
  14. ^ "Mr. Neeraj Choudhary, MTech, (Shivalik hostel), IIT Delhi alumnus successfully scaled Mt Everest summit (8848.86m AMSL) on 31.05.2021. He carried IIT Delhi flag 🚩 and hoisted it on Mt Everest".
  15. ^ "Alumni Relations:: IIT Delhi".
  16. ^ "Patrika 40 under 40: पावर लिस्ट 2.0 के विजेताओं के नाम घोषित, देखें राजस्थान, मध्यप्रदेश और छत्तीसगढ़ की पावर लिस्ट". Patrika. 2022-05-20.
  17. ^ "CEO Rajasthan welcomes on-board Sh Neeraj Choudhary, Ace Mountaineer, as State Icon appointed by ECI". www.instagram.com. Retrieved 2026-03-22.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.