Proud to be a BITSian in Indian Navy Conquer North Pole Ski Mission

For centuries the North Pole has stirred the hearts and minds of explorers as the incredible journey through the Arctic covers some of the most remote and beautiful places in the world. Having created many a records in the past including the successful ascent of Mt. Everest in 2004 and ski traverse to the geographic South Pole in 2006, the Indian Naval team of ten officers set out on March 24, 2008 from Delhi for a historic ski traverse to The North Pole at 90° North.

Each one of the team members must have drawn their inspiration from Helen Keller Quote - .Life is either a daring adventure or nothing and they decided to experience the most emotional part of the North Pole trip i.e. to ski the last degree -111 km - stepping into the ski prints left by the legendary explorers.

The dare devil Indian Navy team did the unthinkable by reaching the geographic North Pole at 2016 Hrs (local time) on the night of 9th April 2008 and became the first Indian team to Ski Traverse to the Geographic North Pole, the first set of Indians and any organization in the world to complete the Three Pole Challenge. The Three Poles Challenge includes successful traverse to the North Pole, South Pole and ascent of Mt. Everest, considered to be the third pole.

The team was led by Cdr Satyabrata Dam. Lt Cdr Avinash Khajuria, Surg Lt Cdr Ajay Sharma, MCERA Rajkumar, Petty Officer Medical Assitants Rakesh Kumar and Vikas Kumar, Brijendra Singh, SEA I PT II, LME Ramendra Pandey, Manoj Vats and Sonam Tamchos are part of the 10-member expedition team. Commander Satyabrata notably has been the leader of the previous two successful expeditions to Mount Everest and South Pole also.

Proud to be a BITSian Raj Kumar who did his B S Engineering Technology work integrated learning degree program of BITS Pilani Rajasthan which is one among the top ranking universities in India today is a rare combo of being a submariner, mountaineer and sky diver became the first of his kind in the world to have skied to both the Poles.

With Never Say Die Attitude and Hunger for the Impossible, Raj Kumar has indeed made every BITSian Proud by proving that winning in tough as well as unknown situations and meeting challenges is a way of life for the students of the Institute.

About BITS Pilani: One among the top ranking universities in India today, BITS) Pilani located in the heart of the Shekhawati region of Rajasthan which has the reputation of pioneering the online examinations for admissions through the pathbreaking BITSAT and setting a benchmark in industry university collaborations offers degrees in various disciplines presently at Pilani, Dubai, Goa campuses and in the short future at Hyderabad campus apart from an array of work integrated learning programmes for HRD of a vast spectrum of Indian corporates. The alumni of the Institute are spread across the globe from Australia to America.

Dr BR Natarajan
Professor & Vice President
BITS Alumni Association (BITSAA)
Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS)
Vidya Vihar, Pilani (Rajasthan) 333031 India
Phone 91-1596-242210
Fax 91-1596-244183
http://www.bits-pilani.ac.in

Birla Institute of Technology & Science (BITS), Pilani Rajasthan is a Deemed University (established under section 3 of the UGC Act. 1956 under notification no. F.12-23/63.U-2 dated 18th June, 1964) running educational programmes both on-campus as well as off-campus, offering degrees at all three-tiers, namely, Integrated First Degree, Higher Degree and Ph.D.

This release was published on openPR.