On May 21, when most other climbers were returning to Kathmandu from Khumbu, one climber with two Sherpa guides was heading out to Everest base camp. 

Indian mountaineer Narender Singh Yadav could not have started earlier even if he had wanted to. This year’s first ascent of Everest (8,848.86m) took place on May 9, while climbers and guides had congregated in its base camp weeks earlier. On May 12 alone, over 200 climbers had made it to the summit. Almost all the expeditions were done and packed by May 20, a day before Narender reached base camp.

Narender was able to obtain his climbing permit only on May 20 owing to a ban he faced. Narender and another Indian climber Seema Rani had claimed to climb Everest in 2016. A probe in 2020 concluded that both climbers had photoshopped their summit pictures and the summit certificate was provided in collusion with liaison officers, expedition agency and team leader. Their summit certificate was then scrapped and both of them were banned from mountaineering in Nepal for six years - starting retrospectively in effect from 2016, the year they faked the climb. 

Their ban expired on May 20 of this year and Yadav acquired the permit on the same day. Next day, he flew to Lukla. 

“I made it to the Everest summit in 6 days, without acclimatization,” Narender told the Everest Chronicle adding, “I reached the Everest base camp directly by a helicopter.” 

Due to the ban, Yadav could not go to the base camp to climb through Khumbu icefall for acclimatization rotations, but he acclimatized in a peak nearby. “Yadav acclimatized for weeks in Island peak (6,189m)”, according to Pasang Sherpa, chairman of his outfitter Pioneer Adventure. “He was all prepared to fly directly to the base camp,” he told Everest Chronicle. 

According to Sherpa, after resting in Camp II for two days, Yadav reached camp III on the 25th, rested for the night, left for camp IV at noon the next day of May 26 and reached camp IV at 2 pm.  After resting for a few hours, he started summit push at 9:30 pm and reached the summit at 5:02 am on May 27th. 

“I enjoyed every bit of the summit moment. I breathe the elixir of freedom, and  dedicated this campaign to the soldiers who were martyred in the Rezang La war,” he said. 

Yadav summited Everest on record 6 days from Kathmandu and this time for real. He has finally redeemed himself with the actual  summit of the world's tallest peak.  “Both my summits are real,” said Yadav, who still denies faking his first summit.

On May 27, 2020, the department of tourism had issued him a summiteer certificate based on photographic and visual evidence of his summit. His sherpa guides had complained to the Department of Tourism that he had never climbed Everest. The department, however, issued Everest summit certificate for him based on the briefings of liaison officer and expedition company. 

Narender was later selected as the awardee for Tenzing Norgay National Adventure Award in 2020. A section of Indian climbers, relatives of legendary climber Tenzing and Nepali Sherpa guide went to the social media to vent their anger for wrong selection.  Under enormous pressure from all quarters, India’s Youth Affairs and Sports revoked his award a day after the formal award ceremony.

Narender says this whole saga led his family members into depression. So, he was determined to clear his name by summiting Everest. He came to Nepal months ago, acclimatizing, climbing other higher peaks and getting ready for summit push. “I hope I need not prove my achievement to anyone any more,” he said. 

While he may have cleared his name, Yadav is not the only Indian climber on the list of faking Everest summits.  The same year in 2016, two police officers – Dinesh and Tarakeswhwari Rathod, husband and wife, also claimed to have reached the summit of Everest. The couple were sacked after an investigation found that they had doctored photos to support their claims. The Nepal government imposed a 10-year mountaineering ban on the couple.