LUCKNOW: A sport like mountaineering is usually associated with men as their passion, hobby, or even career, but some like IPS officer Aparna Kumar follow their passion, chase their dreams and break the glass ceiling to carve out a niche for themselves.
Kumar, posted as Deputy Inspector General with Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) in Dehradun, holds many firsts to her name. She is the only IPS officer to have successfully completed the seven-summit challenge, including scaling of Mount Everest, and is the first woman director of ITBP Academy.
The seven summits are the highest mountains in each continent. Climbing them is regarded a mountaineering challenge. However, it was not just physical challenges Kumar had to face. “When I decided to take up mountaineering, people made many snide remarks. They asked me how I could leave my husband and children for a sport. Even at work, not everyone was supportive. A senior officer was once getting a toilet renovated in his office. I requested him for a women’s toilet because the premises did not have any. To this he replied: “You are a mountaineer, you don’t need a washroom.”,” said Kumar.
Her biggest support, she said, is her husband IAS officer Sanjay Kumar. “He takes care of the children and is more excited than I am during my expeditions. He books my tickets and stands like a wall with me,” she said.
A 2002 batch UP cadre officer, Kumar began taking interest in trekking while in Provincial Armed Constabulary. She enrolled in a basic course at Atal Bihari Vajpayee Institute of Mountaineering and Allied Sports in Manali in 2013, and then an advance course in 2014. She scaled Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania in August 2014, the highest peak in Africa. In November, she climbed the Carstensz Pyramid peak in West Papua, Indonesia, the highest peak in Australia and Oceania region. In 2015, she scaled Mount Elbrus and Mount Aconcagua in Argentina.
The following year, she scaled Mount Vinson Massif, the highest peak in Antarctica, trudging through ice and snow in -35 degrees Celsius.
Four months later, she notched another world record by conquering Mount Everest.
The pneumonia-hit officer conquered South Pole with broken spectacles and carried 35kg equipment along with her in 2019. Six months later, she scaled Mount Denali in North America which has a summit elevation of 20,310 feet above sea level, completing the seven-summit challenge.
“Mountaineer Bachendri Pal has been my inspiration and because of her, many girls/women who wanted to foray into mountaineering got wings,” Kumar told TOI.
