All-Women Indian Team To Complete Himalayan Expedition

An aerial view of snow-covered mountain ranges in the Ladakh region

After three-month-long rigorous trekking, including a one-month journey in Nepal, the 50-plus all Women Trans Himalayan expedition team is back on Indian soil to complete the third and final stretch of their mission.

Spending a whole month in Nepal, the team is looking forward to the third and final stretch of the expedition in the Indian subcontinent, a Tata Steel release said on Tuesday.

This journey began on March 12, 2022 at Pang-sau Pass on the India-Myanmar border as a group of 12 women in the age group of 50-68 years under the leadership of Bachendri Pal, embarked on a 5-month long journey of traversing 4,977-km across the Himalayan extreme from Arunachal Pradesh in the East to Ladakh in the West.

Tata Steel is sponsoring the expedition.

The team had covered a distance of 650 km across four states in the Indian sub-continent – Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Upper West Bengal and Sikkim – while they travelled for more than 1500 km in western, central and eastern Nepal.

Standing the test of age, these women stealthily paved their way through the state of Arunachal Pradesh. At an elevation of 3,727ft, Pangsau Pass marked the beginning of the expedition. Situated in the Patkai Hills on the India-Myanmar border, this pass offers one of the easiest routes into Burma from the Assam plains, it said.

Breaking the ‘I am too old for this’ barrier, the team walked an average of 25-km every day in the initial phase of the expedition, gradually increasing the distance over time. This was the acclimatization phase, where the participating women, along with the support staff, tuned their bodies to the mountain conditions.

Traversing through the high mountain passes of Nepal, the team is finally back on Indian soil.

The team trekked through the Annapurna circuit route and reached Muktinath in Nepal. Dissecting high passes to trek from one mountain to another, the 50 plus women’s team reached the Thorangla Pass at an elevation of 17,769 ft — the highest till now. They are ready to take up more challenging passes in the Indian sub-continent like the Pharangla pass at an elevation of 18,300 ft and the Lamkhaga pass at 17,330 ft.

The expedition will reach its final destination — Kargil — during the last week of July.