Mandip Singh Soin, our long-time friend and partner at Ibex Expeditions, has been awarded the “Tenzing Norgay Lifetime Achievement National Award”.

Presented by the President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjeee, the award cites Mandip’s “unmatched spirit of adventure and pioneering contribution … through expeditions spanning six continents.”

We work with Mandip and his wife, Anita, in the Rajasthan Primary School project.

You can read a brief synopsis of Mandip’s travels and spirit of adventure here. 

A mountaineer & explorer and Founder and Managing Director of Ibex Expeditions, India’s pioneering Adventure Travel Company established in 1979, he is also the Honorary President of the Ecotourism Society of India.

Since the age of 15, he has been involved in adventures and explorations completing over 40 years of adventures in India and different parts of the globe over 35 countries and across 6 continents.

These include treks & climbs in the Himalaya including the 400 km Lahul-Zanskar trek; the first ascent of Z1, at 6400m, in Jammu & Kashmir; Mt Kun 7077m; the first Indian ascent of Mt Meru 6180m in the Garhwal Himalaya.

He has made first ascents in the French, Swiss and Italian Alps and the Dolomites, was an Instructor in Scotland & Wales and also trained in Mountain Rescue.

He undertook an overland cycling expedition of 1500 kms from Delhi to Kathmandu; made the first crossing of the 450 kms Thar Desert on camel back; rode elephants for 101 km in the Kerala jungles and rafted down rivers like the Rogue in USA, Zanskar, Ganges & Beas in India, Padas in Borneo, Findhorn in Scotland & the Vilcanota in Peru.

He has participated in an UNEP supported environmental expedition to the Arctic in 1989.

He has also led expeditions to Bhutan, Tibet, Borneo, Mongolia, Madagascar, and is presently working on a project to convert the bandits of the Chambal in Madhya Pradesh into Naturalists and propose the area as a World Heritage site.

Mandip is an International Speaker, keen environmentalist and Judge of several international awards. He has been nominated India’s Most Versatile Adventure Person by the Limca Book of Records and is the only Indian to receive the Ness Award from the Royal Geographical Society, UK, for expeditions, explorations and encouraging youth.

He is a member of the National Tourism Advisory Council in India; Trustee of the Himalayan Environment Trust and represents India at the UIAA (World Mountaineering & Climbing Federation) in the Access Commission. A former Chair of the South Asia Chapter of the Explorer’s Club, USA, he is also a Judge of the Tourism for Tomorrow Awards of the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC).

He enjoys a weekend Golf game with his children – Himali & Himraj and tries to impress his wife, Anita on a Sunday morning with an omelette flipped to perfection!

However this is not enough to condone his listening to a loud Pavarotti in the wee hours of the morning!