Himalayan Mountaineering Institute Museum

The Himalayan Mountaineering Institute, or HMI, stands in Jawahar Parbat in Darjeeling, West Bengal, at an elevation of about 2,100 metres. It was founded in 1954, a year after the first ascent of Mount Everest by Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary in 1953, at the initiative of Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and with Tenzing Norgay as its first Director of Field Training. The institute trains climbers in basic and advanced mountaineering courses, and its museum documents the history of Himalayan climbing. The Everest Museum, the main gallery, displays the equipment used in early expeditions, including ice axes, oxygen sets, ropes, boots, clothing and tents, along with photographs and maps of the major peaks. Items connected with Tenzing Norgay and the 1953 British expedition are among the highlights, and the museum also shows the personal belongings and certificates of other climbers. A separate Mountaineering Museum covers the geology, flora and fauna of the Himalaya, and has a relief model of the Everest region and Kanchenjunga. The Tenzing Norgay memorial and his samadhi lie in the same campus, marked by a statue of Tenzing. The Padmaja Naidu Himalayan Zoological Park is adjacent, so the two sites are commonly visited together. The museum is arranged by theme and expedition rather than strict chronology. The buildings are kept in good condition by the institute under the Government of West Bengal, and the displays have been refreshed in recent years. From the grounds, visitors can see Kanchenjunga on a clear morning.