Teghbir Singh, a seven-year-old from Ropar, scaled the Thorong La, the highest point on the Annapurna Circuit, situated over 17,769 ft (5416 m), in Nepal on Saturday.
According to his father, Sukhinderdeep Singh, who is working as an administrator at a hospital in Ropar, with this Teghbir at seven years and six months has become the youngest to complete the circuit, which is over 235 km in length.
Confirming the development, Amrit Sapkota, executive director of Himalayan Social Journey (HSJ), said, “Teghbir will be handed over the certificate of the achievement on Monday evening in Kathmandu after he gets back to the city.” The HSJ is the trekking agency recognised by the Nepal government.
The previous world record holder was Ivan Krushkov from Dubai, who scaled the pass in April 2025 at the age of seven years 10 months.
Teghbir, a class 3 student at Shiwalik Public School in Ropar, began his circuit walk on April 11 and reached the Thorong La on Saturday.
“I prepared for this, I knew it was long and difficult, and finally, I reached and had a picture with my father there. I was walking for the first time on a long circuit,” Teghbir said.
“The ascent involved a low-oxygen trek. Despite the challenges, including a long high-altitude trek spanning around 230 km, temperatures averaging 8 degrees below zero, he successfully reached the pass. We set out for the Thorong La early morning of Saturday at 4 am in freezing temperatures around -13 °C,” his father said. The team, comprising his father and two guides, reached the pass at 9.25 am on April 18 after walking for approximately 5.30 hours.
Prior to this, Teghbir became the youngest person in the world to scale Mount Elbrus (the highest peak in Europe) at the age of 6 years and 7 months in June 2025, while in August 2024, he became the youngest Asian to scale Mount Kilimanjaro, the highest peak in Africa. He reached Mount Everest base camp in Nepal in April 2024 at the age of 5 years and 7 months.
Sukhinderdeep said Teghbir started preparing for the trek almost six months ago. “He was trained by Bikramjit Singh Ghuman, a retired coach, who helped him with exercises to increase cardiovascular health and lung capacity to deal with altitude sickness,” he said.
Teghbir’s mother, Dr Manpreet Kaur, a gynaecologist, said the father-son duo is expected to return to Kathmandu on April 20, completing his downward trail. The duo is slated to be back home on April 22.
