Lucknow-based IPS officer Aparna Kumar is no ordinary mountaineer. She became the first female officer of Indian Police Service (IPS) and Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) to successfully conquer the South Pole. Now her next mission is to summit the North Pole.
According to an official release, on April 4, the badass lady officer will start her journey to the North Pole, 178.6 kilometre-trek from Norway's Oslo. In addition to that, the gutsy cop will also make the third attempt to scale Mount Denali in July this year. She successfully reached the South Pole on January 13 after walking 111 kilometres on snow and unfurled the National and Indo-Tibetan Border Police flags at the summit. During the entire voyage, she had 35 kilograms equipment on her back.
Kumar is a 2002 batch UP Cadre IPS officer. She is posted at the Northern Frontier Headquarters of ITBP in Dehradun. Thus far, the unstoppable police officer has scaled the top six mountain peaks of six continents across the globe. Here are a few things you should know about Aparna Kumar:
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- Kumar had previously worked as the Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Telecom in Lucknow.
- She is the first woman officer (all-India services) to have climbed up Antarctica’s highest peak, Mount Vinson Massif, after climbing Mount Everest.
- She was always fascinated by the mountains. She got into a basic mountaineering course at Atal Bihari Vajpayee Institute of Mountaineering and Allied Sports for a month in Manali in 2013, following which she did an advanced course in 2014.
- Accompanied by a 10-member team of mountaineers from various countries, Aparna hoisted the Tricolour and the flag of the Uttar Pradesh Police Service on Mount Vinson Massif on January '17 when the area was iced over in -35 degrees temperatures.
- The group was disconnected from each other for nine days. After suffering from mild frostbite and losing over six kilos, Aparna returned to India on February 5 and recovered gradually.
- Some of her greatest summits are: Climbing up Mount Kilimanjaro in August 2014, the highest peak in Africa. The same year in November, she was on the Carstensz Pyramid peak in the West Papuan province of Indonesia, the highest peak in Australia and the Oceania region. Rewarded again as the first IPS officer to achieve the feat.
- In March 2015, she was awarded the ‘Rani Lakshmi Bai Puraskar’ by chief minister Akhilesh Yadav for her achievements.
- On the Republic Day, 2016, Aparna was also honoured with the special DGP Commendation Disc for her notable achievements.
- The energetic mountaineer also became the first Indian woman to climb Mt Manaslu (8,163 m), the eighth highest peak in the world, in 2017. She accomplished this feat on 25th September.
On the outstanding South pole conquer, several leaders, including Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Union Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal and several other leaders congratulated and praised her on social media platforms.
Watch IPS officer Aparna Kumar story of scaling up the South Pole here:
Here's to defying all odds, cheers to Aparna!
Feature Image Credit: Sportskeeda.com
Read More Stories By Ria Das
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