London: A 33-year-old British Sikh Army officer and physiotherapist, who completed a trekking challenge to become the first Indian-origin woman to set the record of a solo unsupported trek to the South Pole, is all set for her second challenge, this time for the Antarctic.
Captain Harpreet Chandi, known as Polar Preet with reference to her Polar record, returned from the South Pole in January which she saw as the first phase ahead of the over 1,000-mile solo and unaided trek to Antarctica.
Chandi, who recently won the Asian Achievers Award in the Uniformed and Civil Service category in London for her record-breaking efforts, will be pulling a sledge with all her kit and battling below-freezing temperatures on her new adventure starting towards the end of this month.
“My aim is to complete a solo and unsupported crossing of Antarctica,” says Chandi.
“This involves me travelling over 1,000 miles, pulling a pulk [sledge] with all of my kit, battling temperatures of up to minus 50 degrees Celsius and wind speeds of up to 60mph. This journey will take approximately 75 days. This expedition will make me the first female to complete a solo and unsupported crossing of the continent,” she said.
It was around three years ago when she was learning about Antarctica that she decided she wanted to do a crossing of the continent.
But she did not put in her application into the Antarctic Logistics and Expeditions (ALE), which handles the permissions for such expeditions, immediately because she wanted to build up some experience.
“After a year of training and completing expeditions in Norway and Greenland, I put my application into ALE. A few weeks later, I received an email and my application had been rejected, I still did not have enough experience. To be honest, I felt deflated,” she recalls.
“It is never nice to have any kind of rejection. What could I do to gain the experience that was required? I created phase one – a 1126.54 kms solo expedition to the South Pole,” she said, a challenge she has completed since.
Her application was completed earlier this year and it has been all about preparing for this ultimate goal. Now, she will be setting off on her journey in less than two weeks to start her journey to Antarctica.
“There have been tough times to get here but I made it this far. I don’t always remember to look back and reflect. But I know for a fact my 15-year-old self would be amazed at where we are now,” she writes this week on her blog, where she logs her trekking journey.
“I’m so proud of myself. It feels strange writing that because I don’t say it very often but it is true. Take a minute and give yourself a pat on the back for your achievements. However tough it’s gotten for you, you are reading this now and you made it through,” she said.
Chandi has always been keen to push the human body to its limits and sees her adventures as part of this wider mission.
As an “endurance athlete”, she has run marathons and ultra-marathons and, as a British Army officer, completed large scale exercises and deployments in Nepal, Kenya and a United Nations peacekeeping tour of South Sudan. The current goal in her sights is the Antarctic.
PTI
