A female Indian Police Service (IPS) officer, Aparna Kumar, from Uttar Pradesh has reportedly successfully scaled the highest peak in Antarctica, Mount Vinson Massif, becoming the first woman All-India services officer to climb it.
She was congratulated by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav for her success.
The IPS officer has previously successfully climbed Mount Elbrus in Russia, Carstensz Pyramid in Indonesia, Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania and Mount Aconcagua in South America.
Similar to her previous successful expeditions, she hoisted the Indian and Uttar Pradesh police's flag on Mount Vinson Massif, which is more than 16,000 feet high, after scaling the peak on 17 January, reported IANS. She was part of a 10-member polar region expedition team, which consisted of mountaineers from the US and Europe.
For the Mount Vinson Massif expedition, the 2002 batch IPS officer had gone through intensive training.
"I specially trained for heavy sledge pulling. It has been an exhausting training period, where weight training and tire drag were a part of my routine," she told the Times of India (TOI).
Before leaving for the expedition, Kumar, while discussing the obstacles she would be facing in Antarctica with TOI, said, "The temperature drops to around -39 degrees as one nears the peak and the wind is fierce."
She has previously attempted to climb the tallest peak in the world, Mount Everest, but had to abort her expedition due to the earthquakes that rocked Nepal in 2015. She intends to make another attempt in April 2016.
She is also the recipient of the Rani Laxmibai Veerta Puruskar.
Kumar, who had climbed Mount Elbrus in August 2015, was the first female IPS officer from Uttar Pradesh to have done so.
She intends to climb all the seven summits of the world.
