Indian-origin British army officer to trek across Antarctica

Captain Preet Chandi of the British Army is preparing to make history by becoming the first woman to cross Antarctica solo in an unsupported expedition. The Indian-origin Sikh officer will be travelling across 1,600 km and pulling her own sledge to transport her kit.

The Prince and Princess of Wales, William and Kate wrote on Instagram about Captain Preet's adventure. They wrote: "Proudly supporting @polarpreet's extraordinary challenge to become the first woman to cross Antarctica solo and unsupported."

Earlier this year, she had become the first woman of colour to complete a solo expedition to the South Pole. She is a medical officer in the British Army and is currently on a period of leave. Captain Chandi started her expedition in November and reached the South Pole covering over 1,000 km in 40 days. After the achievement, she wrote on her blog: "I don't want to just break the glass ceiling, I want to smash it into a million pieces."

Now Captain Chandi is aiming to complete a solo unsupported mission across the coldest driest continent on Earth. Antarctica has temperatures below -50 C and wind speeds up to 95 km/hr. She shares her experiences on Instagram (@polarpreet) and currently has 41.6K followers. Details of her Antarctic trips and training are on the highlight feature of the app. She shares lengthy captions describing trekking sessions and recently wrote: "I always wanted to bring people with me on this expedition. Sadly, it wouldn't be solo if I had people with me on the ice!"

She joined the Army Reserves at 19 and Regular Army at 27. Her most recent deployment was with the UN for a six-month-long peacekeeping mission in South Sudan.