WOMEN OFFICERS OF INDIAN ARMY CLIMB "INDIRA COL", THE HIGHEST POINT ON SIACHEN GLACIER

A Team comprising only lady officers of the Indian Army scaled Indira Col, the highest point on Siachen glacier on 15 August 2009, making it the first ladies team to have reached the highest battlefield in the world.

Historical Perspective Siachen meaning the land of roses is the highest and coldest battlefield glacier at a height of 21,000 feet (6400 m).It is located on eastern karakoram range in the himalaya south and central Asia. Siachen falls from an altitude of 5,753 m (18,875 ft) above sea level at its source at indira col (pass) on the china border down to 3,620 m (11,875 ft) at its snout. This col was recorded to have been reached by col. N Kumar’s team in 1981 and again by the Americans in 1986. The temperature of the region varies from the hot to the second coldest inhabited place in the world. Mean temperatures are:Summer 25 ºc to 3 ºc & Winter - 3ºc to -20ºc. It is a high altitude cold desert with a low level of atmospheric oxygen. People arriving by air are required to acclimatize before engaging in physical activity. Snowfall is experienced generally during the months of October to May which can be from the light to heavy but has been reducing due to the global warming. Ladakh is cut off from the rest of India for approximately 7 months (October to April) till the opening of passes of Zojila and Rohtang (Himachal Pradesh). The only entry and exit is by air.

Siachen glacier is characterized by extremely treacherous high altitude terrain due to deep crevasses and ice walls, completely snow-bound with extreme low temperatures and scarce oxygen. soldiers serving in the terrain are exposed to high risks of health hazards due to the climatic conditions. Since September 2007, India has opened up mountaineering and trekking expeditions to the forbidding glacial heights. The first group included cadets from Chail Military School, NCC, IMA, RIMC and members of armed forces. The expeditions are also meant to show to the international audience that indian troops hold "almost all dominating heights" on the important saltoro ridge and to show that pakistani troops are not within 15 miles (24 km) of the 43.5-mile (70 km) Siachen glacier. Ignoring protests from pakistan, India asserts that it does not need anyone's approval to send trekkers to siachen, in what it say, is essentially its own territory.

Genesis of the Expedition The Army has blazed a trail of achievements in a wide range of adventure activities and has single-handedly been responsible for creating awareness as well as inculcating a spirit of adventure in the Indian society. It is for the first time that such an idea was perceived which would give an opportunity to the lady army officers to familiarize with the challenging extreme conditions in which the army operates and may lead to their deployment in these regions in the future.

Selection of the Team Mountaineering is an activity with big risks and the members need good mountaineering skills, physical fitness, self-discipline, initiative and above all team spirit. Lady army officers from the corps of Engineers volunteered and 17 of them were selected for the expedition. Major AR Ramakrishna, a battle casualty of Op Vijay in 1999 was given the task of leading the team of motivated lady officers. Few of them had previous training in basic and advanced mountaineering and one of them had previous experience of mountaineering, whereas, most of them were novices. The team was supported by representatives from the medical and signal corps and instructors from the army mountaineering institute, Siachen base camp.

The Team

Maj AR Ramakrishnan (Team Leader and Manager)
Maj N Linyu
Maj Rita Deb
Maj Megha Astagikar
Maj Neha Bhatnagar
Maj Pradnya Kulkarni
Maj Meghna R
Capt Saily Jagtap
Capt Pushpa Kumari
Capt Shikha Yadav
Capt Saloni Mittal
Capt Aarti Parashar
Capt Priyanka Tak
Lt Girija Mohalkar
Lt Namrata Rathore
Lt Vijay Laxmi Chand Thakur
Lt Neelam Rathore
Lt Garima Pal
Hav Pasare
Spr Kalu Ram
Sigmn Meena
Sigmn Deeraj Jasrotia

Flagging Off The team was flagged off by the Vice Chief of Army Staff on the 03 Aug at Siachen base camp which is at a height of 11500 feet and was the starting point of expedition.

Base Camp to Camp I The team moved as ropes consisting of five to six members each totaling to four ropes. The team started its trek on the 5th of Aug at 0600hrs reached the Camp I, which is at a distance of 12kms approx after a trek of five hours. On the first day of the expedition, the team was full of anxiety, since, it was their first experience on the glacier, though the team had gone till the half link between Base Camp and Camp I. The route was full of moraines, crevasses scree and was very slippery.

Camp I to Camp II On the second day, the team had started very early at around 0400Hr. On this extent the team encountered the glacier for the first time after leaving the Base Camp and had to fit cramp-on on their snow-boots for negotiating the terrain.This extent was the toughest of the whole trek involving crossing of number of crevasses, climbing ice-walls. The team had to use the ladders many times for negotiating huge crevasses. The team walked for about nine hours before reaching Camp II

Camp II to Camp III The next day the team travelled for seven hours, a distance of approx 14 kms.It moved out of Camp II for Camp III with a drizzle overhead. The weather turned worse as the team moved ahead, with high winds, cloudy weather and extreme cold.

Camp III to Kumar Post The team reached Kumar post on 08 Aug 09 after a total trek of kms after starting from the base camp. Then, they had third-stage acclimatization at an altitude of 15000feet. The team experienced first snow-fall since the start of the expedition

Kumar post to Camp IV The team marched from Kumar Post to Camp IV A, traversing a complete glacial patch of 11 Kms. It halted for a tea break at Camp IV and proceeded further to Camp IV A. The test of endurance and stamina seemed to get tougher as the team was getting closer to the objective. The team reached Camp IV A after about 5 hr of trek, between the mighty snows bound ranges- the Karakoram and Saltoro Range.

Camp IVA To Camp VA On 13 Aug 09, the team moved further from Camp IV A in the early hours of morning, biting cold besides gaining height up to 17450 feet. The extreme cold weather kept the team moving continuously to keep ourselves warm and hence comfortable!!! After about 6 hr trek, the team arrived at Camp VA and there realized that it had come very close to the destination… Indira Col seemed to be in close vicinity. At the camp, the next day’s summit plan also was finalized.

Camp VA to Camp VI Camp VI was at a distance of about 4 Km from Camp VA. The team reached the Camp at about 0600 hr on 14 Aug 09. The visit of army officers along with their delicious ‘Good Luck Soan Papadis’ boosted the morale of the team a few hours before the summit. The team halted at this Camp till late evening, gearing up mentally and physically for the final summit, offered prayers to the local deity, in the evening and had motivational messages for one another by all members in the team.

Camp VI to Assault Camp The team marched at 2300 hr on 14 Aug 09 after an early dinner and reached the Assault Camp, an altitude of 18521 feet by 0045 hr on 15 Aug 09. Half of the route to the camp was frozen water body, which required deliberate walking. The move plan of the team was given a final shape. After a short halt of 1 hr at the Assault Camp, the team headed for the final Summit at 0230 hr.

The Final Summit The day of 15 Aug 09 dawned with the team moving towards the final objective – Indira Col with high level of motivation and zeal to summit the tip on the Independence Day. The move from Assault Camp began at 0230 hr and the team slowly and steadily progressed to every stage of the walk.

Deinduction The team started its trek back from Indira col on the 15th of Aug and reached the base camp on the 20th of Aug after halting at camps V A , IV A and lastly camp II, before reaching base camp. The team moved for Partapur transit camp on 22Aug and reached Delhi on 27 Aug 09 via Leh and Chandigarh.

Chronolgy of Events:

Arr at chandigarh on 12 Jul 09
Arr at partapur on 17 Jul 09
Arr at base camp on 23 Jul 09
Flag of on 03 Aug 09
Base camp to camp I on 05 Aug 09
Camp I to Camp II on 06 Aug 09
Camp II to Camp III on 07 Aug 09
Camp III to Kumar Post on 08 Aug 09
Kumar Post to Camp IV A on 12 Aug 09
Camp IV A to Camp VA via Camp V on 13 Aug 09
Camp VA to VI on 14 Aug 09
Camp VI to summit via aslt camp on 14 Aug 09

Highlights of the Expedition

The team sumitted Indira col on 15th Aug.

The first women officers’ team, ever to reach Indira Col as well as the first to reach Siachen Glacier.

The team finished the expedition before the planned schedule.

All the members who started the trek faced no health related problems enroute and completed the mission successfully.