Who Is Preet Chandi ? British Sikh Woman Makes History With Solo Trip To South Pole

Who Is Preet Chandi: British-born Sikh army officer Preet Chandi is in news for scripting history. She is now the first "woman of colour" to complete a solo expedition to the South Pole. Her expedition commenced in November in 2021.

She spent the next few weeks skiing solo across Antarctica. After completing her expedition, she made an announcement on January 3 informing everyone that she had completed the 700 mile (1126 km) trek in 40 days.  "I made it to the South Pole where it's snowing," Ms Chandi wrote in her blog adding that she was feeling so many emotions and it felt surreal to finally reach where she wanted to.

Who Is Preet Chandi ?

• Besides being an army officer, she is a Nordic skier, physiotherapist, ultra-marathon runner and endurance athlete too.
• She has 2329 followers on Twitter. "British Army Physiotherapist", reads her Twitter bio.
• She is quite active on Instagram as well. Her handle Polarpreet is dedicated to chronicling her journey through photos and videos. She has 11.7K followers on Instagram.
• She devoted two and a half years preparing for her South Pole expedition. Her preparation included crevasse training in the French Alps. She also went for trekking in Iceland.
• "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," Ms Chandi had said earlier.
• During her Antarctica expedition, the Indian-origin British army officer hauled a pulk or sledge which weighed nearly 90 kg and held her kit, fuel and food.
• She completed her journey with temperature -50 degrees Celsius. She also braved snowstorms throughout the journey.
• "This expedition was always about so much more than me. I want to encourage people to push their boundaries and to believe in themselves," she announced on her blog after completing the trek to the South Pole. She added by saying that she doesn't just want to break the glass ceiling but smash it into a million pieces.

Suggested Reading : Preet Chandi: First Woman Of Colour To Complete A Solo Expedition To South Pole