Darjeeling girl selected for Commonwealth Women’s Antarctic Expedition

Braving sub-zero temperatures to ski over 800km through the vast emptiness of the Antarctica — without a trained guide to warn of the blizzards and crevasses — with 80 kg of ration slung on the back is no ordinary man’s, or for that matter a woman’s, job.

But then, 38-year-old Reena Kaushal Dharmshaktu from Darjeeling is no ordinary woman. She has been selected to represent India in the Commonwealth Women’s Antarctic Expedition and will be the first woman from the country to ski across the Antarctica. She had beaten 27-year-old Aparna Ray from Calcutta to clinch a berth in the expedition to the pole to be led by Felicity Aston. The team will start for Antarctica later this year and hopefully arrive at the journey’s end on New Year’s Day 2010.MORE...