The first ascent of Mount Everest in 1953 by Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary sparked a keen interest in establishing mountaineering as a well-respected endeavor for people in the region.

With the impetus provided by the first prime minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru, HMI was established in Darjeeling.

Narendra Dhar Jayal, the pioneer of Indian Mountaineering, was the founding principal of the institute.

The buildings for the Institute were designed by the architect Joseph Allen Stein, who then taught at the Bengal Engineering College near Calcutta.

Tenzing Norgay became the first Director of Field Training of the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute in Darjeeling, when it was set up in 1954.