NRI couple move mountains, become first Sikh pair in the world to scale Mt Everest

They say don’t forget God when you get what you prayed for.

They had a mountain to climb. They prayed for success. And when their prayers were answered, they were on top of the world, but very humble about their achievement. The first thing they did after reaching the summit was to bow their heads in prayer.

At 7.50 am on May 23, when US citizens and NRI couple 47-year-old Harpreet Singh Cheema and 40-year-old Navneet Kaur Cheema reached the summit of Mt Everest, world’s highest mountain, the couple recited “Gagan main thaal”, an aarti first recited by first Sikh guru Guru Nanak Dev.

With this success they joined the illustrious list of couples in the world to have climbed the 8,848.86-metre-high mountain and also became the first Sikh couple in the world to achieve the feat.

“It was a surreal feeling for both of us. While there is less oxygen and not much time to stay at the summit, the first thought that came to our mind was to recite the aarti ‘Gagan main thaal’ in which Guru Nanak Dev ji imagined the entire universe as a prayer platter of the Almighty. We were standing on the highest point of the planet and remembered the Almighty. Of course, it makes us proud to become the first Sikh couple in the world to scale Mt Everest but then it’s due to the Almighty,” said Harpreet Singh while speaking to The Indian Express from Kathmandu.

While Harpreet Singh was born in Kamo Majra Khud near Sangrur in Punjab, Navneet Kaur is from Jian village in Hoshiarpur district. A graduate from Guru Nanak Dev Engineering College, Ludhiana, Harpreet Singh initially worked with Abbott Labs, a medical equipment company, in Mumbai before working in the UK. In 2007 he met Navneet Kaur, who had immigrated to the US in 1988 with her family, and the couple got married. It was in the cities of Seattle and later Michigan that the couple started taking part in marathons and bicycle rides when their interest in trekking began.

“When we moved to Seattle, we took part in the Seattle Marathon every year from 2008 to 2014. We also participated in bike rides around Mount Rainier and between Seattle and Portland. It made our interest grow in trekking also when we shifted to Michigan. We have been taking part in the Detroit Free Press Marathon (every year) since 2015,” said Navneet Kaur, who works as a software engineer with Expedia, a travel company in Michigan.

In 2018 the couple’s interest in mountaineering grew after a trip to Machu Picchu, an ancient Inca city situated at a height of 2,430 metres in Peru. In 2019, the couple climbed 5,895-m-high Mt Kiliminjaro, Africa’s highest mountain, before they decided to scale seven summits of the world – an attempt to climb seven highest peaks in each continent.

“We had gone to Mt Kiliminjaro with friends and it was an easy trek for us. After the climb, we thought of making an attempt to scale seven summits of the world. In 2022, we climbed Mt Elbrus, Europe’s highest peak, and it offered us a chance to learn the basics of alpine mountaineering and summit climbing. Once we got a hang of the basics, we planned to scale the seven summits,” said Harpreet Singh, who works as vice-president, strategy, at Trinity Health, a leading US healthcare company in Michigan.

Last year, the couple scaled Mt Aconcagua in Argentina on January 14 before climbing the 6,194-m-high Mt Denali in Alaska, USA, on June 12, 2023.

“We scaled the summit of Mt Denali all alone, that is, for 21 days we stayed alone and climbed on our own with fixed ropes. I fell in a crevasse during the summit push and Navneet pulled me out using a rope. So I owe my life to her (laughs). We were sure to attempt Mt Everest after that,” said Harpreet Singh.

Prior to deciding about scaling Mt Everest, the couple would spend hours in a hypoxic (having less oxygen) tent at their home in Ann Arbor, Michigan, apart from doing high-altitude training. “We would spend hours sleeping and doing activities in the hypoxic tent to simulate conditions at Mt Everest, apart from running with weighted backpacks,” said Navneet Kaur.

The couple arrived in Nepal in April and spent $35,000 each for the Mt Everest expedition with “14 Peaks”, a mountaineering company in Nepal. While they made repetitive climbs to Mt Everest camp1, camp 2 and camp 3 to acclimatise themselves, it was on May 22 that the couple started the final climb to the summit of Mt Everest from the 7,470-m-high camp 3. The couple reached the summit on the morning of May 23 but it was not before a tragedy. “A few metres from the summit, we saw Kenyan mountaineer Joshua Cheruiyot Kirui sitting down. By the time we reached him, he had collapsed and died. I performed ‘Kirtan Sohila’ for his soul at that point and we progressed further. Such is life on the mountain,” said Harpreet Kaur.

The couple now plans to scale 4,892-m-high Mt Vinson in Antarctica later this year before trying their hand at the 4,884-m-high Carstensz Pyramid in Indonesia next year to complete the seven summits. “Our children Chaaniyya Cheema and Huqmaay Singh Cheema are our inspiration and hopefully we will complete the seven summits next year,” said Navneet Kaur.

Rupinderjit Singh, who taught Harpreet Singh at Guru Nanak Dev Engineering College, Ludhiana, also lauded their efforts. “Right from his college days, Harpreet moulded himself according to situations. This achievement of the couple will inspire the youth in Punjab,” said Rupinderjit Singh, associate professor in electrical engineering department & dean alumni of Guru Nanak Dev Engineering College, Ludhiana.

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