After unsuccessful attempts in 1938 and 1939, Chaukhamba I was first climbed on 13 June 1952, by Lucien George and Victor Russenberger (Swiss members of an otherwise French expedition). They ascended the northeast face, from the Bhagirathi-Kharak Glacier. The other members of the expedition were the French alpinist and traveler Marie-Louise Plovier Chapelle and the renown French alpinist and climber Edouard Frendo.