My first experience of mountaineering was as a 19-year-old, when I was studying basic mountaineering at the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute in Darjeeling. Since then, all my climbing has been in the Indian Himalayas. With the Indian Army, I have led expeditions to Hanuman Tibba in the Pir Panjal range, through the Shinkun-la Pass from Lahaul to Zanskar, to Abi Gamin peak in Chamoli district, Uttarakhand, and to the Nun peak of the Nun Kun massif in Jammu & Kashmir. I'm most proud of successfully leading a team to the summit of Nun, via the East Ridge. I opened a crucial trail to the ridge, which was a rock-and-ice route starting from over a bergschrund and ending up on the summit ridge. It was the first successful attempt on this route after many previous expeditions had failed. I started paragliding when I was a cadet at the Indian Military Academy, Dehradun. As for skydiving, apart from taking part in many combat trials, trying new equipment for the Army and performing show jumps around India, I ran the Army Skydiving Club in Agra where we taught civilians to skydive. Bringing this sport, a forte of the Army, to the civilians, gave me great joy. Jumping over built-up cities like Kolkata and Delhi, to find that small stadium for landing, was very challenging, but skydiving over the Andaman Islands was a high point in my life .