Mr. C. S. Pandey is the Race Director of the Himalayan 100 Mile Stage Race and Mt. Everest Challenge Marathon. In 1991 he brought eco-friendly adventure tourism to India with the creation of this event, which is the first locally organized and supported annual high-altitude, multi-day stage race in the North-East Himalayan Region.
Hailing from Central Himalaya, Mr. Pandey is himself a veteran mountaineer and adventurer. An ardent lover of mountains, he has wandered the full length and breadth of the Indian Himalaya and has followed his passion for solo glacier climbing without gear. As he has said, he can live without anything except the mountains. His experience in completing two-or-three-day trekking routes in a single day encouraged his interest in long distance running, and his background in Himalayan village life and culture made him uniquely suited to present this culture to visitors from around the world.
Being an adventurer, he has been centrally involved in planning and organizing unique and innovative running, mountaineering and trekking projects in the Indian Himalaya. Most notably, perhaps, was his work in 1998 in organizing the first direct Indo-British trekking expedition from Badrinath to Kedarnath. The expedition goal was to retrace the steps of the high priest who, legend had it, held services in the both the Kedarnath and Badrinath temples on the same day, despite that the shortest known route in between these temples was about forty miles over high mountain passes and through the extremely deep Kedarnath valley. While a prior expedition on this trail in monsoon season in 1934 had failed, Mr. Pandey’s expedition achieved its goal.
With a degree in Management and Public Administration and more than 35 year’s experience in tour operation, Mr. Pandey’s organizational skills are self-evident, as he is able to consistently present a world-class events even at 18000 ft. above sea-level. He is a good administrator as well, effectively managing his support team, and always active in promoting adventure tourism with a theme of conservation in India. The organization that he founded and leads, Himalayan Run & Trek Pvt. Ltd., has won the National Award from Government of India for organizing the most unique and innovative projects. Mr. Pandey has expanded his work throughout India, exposing his adventure-seeking clients to mountain passes, snowy slopes, dusty deserts, and along the tracks of a lonely wild tusker.