Army veteran set to become first woman to ever reach the North Pole solo

A British Army veteran turned polar explorer is set to become the first woman ever to reach the North Pole completely unsupported, without resupplies or external support.

Harpreet Chandi MBE is taking on the treacherous journey completely alone, which until now has only been completed by two men.

Mrs Chandi, also known as Polar Preet, has revealed the extreme lengths she is going to for the perilous journey – including a gruelling training regime that involves dragging enormous tyres.

The 36-year-old four-time Guinness World Record holder faces drifting ice, open water leads, dangerous cracks in the ice, and temperatures as low as -50C.

Mrs Chandi said: "I’ve decided to use the Dacia Bigster, just to fit the tyres in!

"It’s bigger than any car I’ve had before, which means it fits my tyres easily, as well as all my gear.

"I need to be consistent with my training, so it’s great to be able to carry everything with me in a car I know is capable of the same extremes that I need to put my body through."

She is preparing her body to pull a pulk – a sled-like carrier – hauling more than 130kg of food and equipment by lugging two huge tyres through her hometown of Derby and surrounding areas, a brutal test of strength and endurance.

She will face her toughest test yet come March.

Despite having previously becoming the first woman of colour to complete a solo expedition to the South Pole, the North Pole presents unique challenges in an unpredictable landscape.

She said: "My aim is to ski solo and unsupported to the North Pole.

"If I’m successful, I’ll be the first woman in history to ski solo to the North Pole and the South Pole.

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On May 4, 1990, after a 58-day trek from Ellesmere Island in Canada, Norwegians Borge Ousland and Erling Kagge completed the first successful, fully unsupported (no resupplies, no dogs, no kites) ski expedition to the North Pole.

Thirty six years later, Mrs Chandi is looking to complete the same feat. She said that the challenge will test her "physical endurance, mindset and resilience."

She added: "I’m on the ice alone, but I never walk alone. I carry my culture, my heritage, the generations before me - they’re all with me.

"My sled was named after my niece, Simran, and my skis after my nephew. Thinking about them helps keep me going out there alone," the 36-year-old added.

"The first couple of weeks of this trip will be harder than anything I’ve ever done in my life.

"It will be about minus 50 degrees. I’m on sea ice. It is moving and shifting. I have an immersion suit for when I have to literally get into the water.

"There are polar bears there – it’s going to be a hard trip.

"But, despite all this, I wasn’t born into adventure. People say the outdoors is for everyone, and it is, but when your community hasn’t had that connection, adventure feels like a language that you were never taught, and very few around you speak it."

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