- Details
- Written by Anchal B Chaudhary
Himalayan Mountaineering Institute
Himalayan Mountaineering Institute, Darjeeling, is the oldest mountaineering institute in the country and carries out various mountaineering courses throughout the year.
The institute was set up in honour of Tenzing Norgay Sherpa, the local hero who successfully climbed the world’s highest peak, the Mount Everest, along with Sir Edmund Hillary on 28 May 1953.
HMI premises has a boarding school for mountaineering students, a souvenir shop, a restaurant and a well-stocked museum with exquisite display of mountaineering equipment and expedition articles.
The museum is divided into two broad sections: The Main Museum and Everest Museum. The main museum has a rich collection of books, photographs, manuscripts and mountaineering equipment etc. while in the Everest section of the museum history of the attempts made to ascend Mount Everest is displayed chronologically.
One of the main attractions in the museum is Hitler’s telescope; a Carl Zeis telescope capable of astronomical observations. The telescope was presented by Adolf Hitler to Commander-in-Chief of Nepal Army, whose son presented it to HMI, in 1961 AD.
Located on Birch Hill or Jawahar Road, HMI is accessible from the Mall Road and Lebong Cart Road.
