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Harish Kapadia has made a unique contribution to our knowledge of the Himalaya: as editor of the Himalayan Journal, one of the most authoritative and comprehensive records of explorative and comprehensive records of exploratory activity in the Himalaya: and through his numerous books and as a leader and organiser of countless expeditions over the year. He has written with deep knowledge about his Himalayan journeys in his 12 books and several articles that are erudite and practical, skillfully combining historical, geographical and practical guidance to increase our understanding of the region. His first visit to the Himalaya was almost 45 years ago. He has never looked back since, still trekking and climbing actively. His main contribution to Himalayan climbing has been to explore unknown areas and, in a number of cases, to open up climbing possibilities. He has personally climbed more than 30 Himalayan peaks, many of them being first ascents, and has crossed more than 130 Himalayan passes to explore different valleys. the quality of exploration and the detailed reports that he has issued have provided superb background information about these areas. He is an explorer in the true sense and has visited almost all the ranges in the Indian Himalaya in the last four decades. He was elected Honorary Member of the Alpine Club, London. He was a Vice-President of the Indian Mountaineering Foundation (1997-1999) and was awarded the IMF Gold Medal in 1993. He was honoured with the Royal Geographical Society 'for contributions to geographical discovery and mountaineering in the Himalaya'. He was the first Indian to receive this award after 125 years. He was invited to several countries to lecture on his Himalayan exploits, and is a member of several organisations.

Bill Aitken is Scottish by birth, a naturalized Indian by choice. He studied comparative religion at Leeds University and then gutcg-hiked to India in 1959. He has lived in Himalayan ashrams, worked as secretary to a maharani, freelanced under his middle name (Liam Mckay) and undertaken miscellaneous excursions-from Nanda Devi to Sabarimala-on an old motorbike and by stam railway. Aitken has written on travel and tourism for newspapers and magazines in India for several years and is the author of The Nanda Devi Affair, Riding the Ranges and Branch Line to Elernity among other books.