Khimlal Gautam

Khim Lal Gautam is a Nepalese mountaineer and Chief Survey Officer in the Survey Department, Government of Nepal. He is the only civil servant and surveyor to have scaled Mount Everest twice. Additionally, he holds the distinction of being the highest-ranking government official from the Nepal government to have summited Everest. Gautam, along with Rabin Karki, was the first surveyor to reach the top of the mountain to measure its actual altitude using state-of-the-art technology. Khimlal also serves as a representative and liaison officer for the Department of Tourism in Nepal.

Early life and education Gautam was born in Hadaule, a small village in Nepal's Kaski District, where he spent his childhood. Growing up, he was enchanted by the sight of Mt Machapuchhre, just 20 kilometers away from his home, which fueled his love for Nepal's majestic mountains. Despite this, it was Mount Everest that truly captured his imagination, being famous as the tallest peak in the world.

First summit Khimlal on the right, Rabin in the middle, and Tshering on the left.

In 2010, Gorkhapatra daily published an advertisement inviting interested civil servants of Nepal to apply for the inaugural civil servant expedition to summit Mount Everest, as part of the Visit Nepal Year 2011 promotion program . Although initially an alternate candidate, Gautam joined the expedition after a team member withdrew to attend a foreign engagement. On May 18, 2011, they successfully reached the summit at exactly 5:20 am. He was the first among his team to reach the summit.

Second summit

In 2017, following the 2015 Nepal Earthquake, Nepal's Survey Department organized an expedition to Mount Everest to reassess its height. Khim Lal Gautam, chosen as the team leader for his experience and engineering skills, led the expedition . The then Prime Minister of Nepal, KP Oli, bid farewell to the team on April 10, 2019. After extensive preparation and acclimatization at Base Camp over 26 days, the team began their ascent on May 18. Despite these obstacles, Gautam pressed on, aware that descending would likely result in failure based on his prior Everest experience. On May 22, at 3 a.m., Gautam, along with colleague Rabin Karki and Sherpa, successfully reached the summit of Mount Everest, achieving their mission despite the difficulties faced.

Book Pandhraun Chuli (2022) Pandhrau Chuli is a book that chronicles the author Khim Lal Gautam's experiences and explorations related to Mount Everest. It delves into the emotional and geographical aspects of Everest, Combining personal anecdotes, historical facts, and insights gained from Gautam's two ascents of the mountain.

Assessment of Human Impact Gautam documented several human activities that were intensifying the melt: Removal of surface debris to set up tents, which allowed more heat and sunlight to penetrate the glacier. Based on field measurements from the spring 2023 climbing season, the study estimated that fuel use and human urinary discharge at the camp released enough heat energy to melt roughly 2,500 tons of glacier ice and snow that season.

The Mahabharata refers to what was considered the highest peak in the world at the time, as lying beyond the Himalayas and still known as Naubandhana, marking it as the resting place of the flood boat. A yellow band (limestone layer) near Everest's summit is interpreted as the line where the boat was tied, according to this legend.

Deduction on the Origin and Dating of Mount Everest Gautam, drawing from Vedic cosmology and traditional Hindu timekeeping, calculated that the tying of the boat to Mount Everest occurred approximately 122 million years ago, marking the transition from the sixth to the seventh (Vaivasvata) Manu era.

This mythological timeline differs from geological estimates, which suggest the Himalayas began forming approximately 40–50 million years ago. However, Gautam notes that this discrepancy is not as wide when compared to the Biblical timeline for the Great Flood, which places it only 4,372 years ago.