Customer Reviews

Spies in the Himalayas: Secret Missions and Perilous Climbs (Modern War Studies)

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Kohli is a mountaineer from India who led an Everest expedition in 1965 that put nine men on the summit. Conboy is a former Heritage Foundation analyst. Immediately after his 1965 triumph, Kohli was asked to lead a covert mission to place a nuclear-powered sensor on the north face of a remote Himalayan peak to monitor Chinese nuclear tests. The monitor was a joint project of the CIA and its Indian equivalent. Because the placement had to be secret, above 22,000 feet, and in one of the most inhospitable regions of the earth, Kohli assembled a group of highly capable climbers and Sherpa porters. Nothing went easily. Weather and bad luck foiled the first attempt, and in the second attempt the nuclear generator was lost. After many difficulties and two deaths the sensor was placed, then promptly went silent. Another expedition was mounted to replace it. Half Cold War adventure and half mountaineering saga. Amateurishly written, but Kohli's obvious enthusiasm and the excitement of climbing comes through. I liked it.

This book at best can be described as a dragging narration of a poorly planned combined secret mission between CIA and IB (Indian Intelligence Bureau) in the mid 60s. The book goes on and on about things that the mountain climbers had to go through for planting a sensor (actually two or three) on Himalayan peaks for eavesdropping on China. The book probably gains some importance because the loss of one of the sensors made headlines nearly 10 years afterwards due to fear of contamination of the holy Ganges river. The whole story sounds real silly with a lot of money spent for no evident goal. The writer displays some good style, but often the narration goes haywire making the reader wonder where he is being led to.