Arjun Vajpai sumits Mt. Shishapangma, a new first for India

Indian alpinist Arjun Vajpai has scripted history by becoming the first Indian to scale eight 8,000m peaks.

On the 9th of October, Vajpai summitted Mt. Shishapangma at 7.45am and in doing so, became the first Indian to scale the peak.

A climbing prodigy

In 2018, Vajpai summitted six peaks of over 8,000m and was the youngest in the world to do so.

A climbing prodigy, Vajpai was just 16-years of age when he climbed Mount Everest in 2010.

On 14 October 2015 Arjun Vajpai and mountaineer Bhupesh Kumar scaled a then unnamed peak 6,180 metres (20,280 feet) high in Spiti valley, Himachal Pradesh.

They later named it Mount Kalam in memory of late President of India A. P. J. Abdul Kalam.

Brushes with death

Throughout his young career so far, Vajpai has had several brushes with death.

In 2012, at Mount Cho Oyu, Tibet, Vajpai was was paralysed at an altitude of 22,000 feet and was rescued by a Swiss adventurer.

More recently, he was stranded during the descent of Mount Annapurna in April 2023 and had to be rescued.

Arjun Vajpai's Eight 8000m summits:

2010: Mount Everest - 8,849m

2011: Manaslu - 8,163m

2011: Lhotse - 8,516m

2016: Cho Oyu - 8,188m

2016: Makalu - 8,485m

2018: Kangchenjunga - 8,586m

2023: Annapurna - 8,091m

2024: Shishapangma - 8,027m