Preet Chandi, a 32-year-old British-Indian Army officer, has become the first woman of color to finish a solo journey to the South Pole. She chose Antarctica solely because she didn’t know anything about it, which was a challenge in and of itself.
In early 2020, she started preparing for Antarctica by taking a polar training school in Norway. There, she learned how to put up a camp, melt snow, and cook in cold conditions. She trained six days a week in the UK dragging tires, “the closest to hauling a sled.”
In August 2020, she went to Greenland, which prepared her for Antarctica. The excursion cost her life savings. She was caught in a storm for 6 days on the ice cap, plowing snow on her knees and rationing fuel.
Although the epidemic had slowed her progress, Chandi found herself in the Union Glacier Camp in Antarctica on November 24, 2021, ready to go on her alone journey.
Her sled weighed 192 pounds when she started the 700-mile voyage to the South Pole. It carried her all survival tools such as; a tent, repair kits, medical supplies, spare parts, and, most crucially, fuel and food for 48 days.
She was also wearing skis and carrying a Leatherman multitool, satellite phone, GPS, compass, and a few more goods in her pockets.
Chandi averaged 17 kilometers daily while pushing her sled through 60 mph winds. She met with wave-shaped frozen ridges larger than her somewhere past the halfway point.
Chandi was mentally and physically fatigued by the end of the adventure. However, she reached the South Pole in 40 days, having 8 days’ food and fuel left over.
She arrived at the South Pole at 2:30 a.m. and recalled the day as bright and beautiful. Now, she intends to use half of the funds she raised through GoFundMe for her voyage to establish an adventure scholarship for women.
