British Sikh Army officer Harpreet Chandi, a 32-year-old captain scripted history becoming the first lady of colour to reach the South Pole solo. Chandi began her 700 miles expedition in November last year. Skiing across Antarctica, the lady announced reached the peak point on January 3rd.
Taking to her Twitter, Chandi announced her extravagant achievement. The tweet read- I made it to the South Pole where it’s snowing,” Ms Chandi announced on her blog. “Feeling so many emotions right now… it feels so surreal to finally be here.”
The 32-year-old lady who adopted the moniker, Polar Preet added how she hoped she would break the stereotype of the Asian woman seeking to touch down the coldest and highest continent on earth. “Don’t get me wrong: Shackleton, Amundsen, Scott, they’re huge polar names and they’re incredible people. But they’re not names that I was familiar with, it wasn’t something that I could personally relate to. I am excited to add some diversity to that, and Preet is actually quite a common Indian name.”
Explaining her efforts to undertake this hazardous solo trip, “Antarctica is the coldest, highest, driest and windiest continent on Earth. Nobody lives there permanently. I didn’t know much about the continent when I first started planning and that is what inspired me to go there.”
Preeti joined the Army Reserves aged 19 and signed up with the regular Army five years ago, operating as a Clinical Training Officer, helping to train military medics. To prepare for her trip to the South Pole, she undertook a 27-day expedition to the ice cap in Greenland as a trial.