Reena Kaushal is close to becoming the first Indian woman to ski to South Pole.

By Bhagya Ayyavoo

Perhaps, there's something about women and the mountains.

Bachendri Pal, Santosh Yadav, Dicky Dolma chased the same rainbow and managed to scale the heights of glory. While Bachendri reached the summit of Mount Everest in 1984, Santosh Yadav was the first of her kind to scale the world's highest peak twice in 1992 and 1993. Dicky Dolma, at 19 years conquered the peak in 1993. She was the youngest to do so.

Meet another braveheart from the Tenzing land - Reena Kaushal Dharmshaktu. She is very close to being the first woman from India to ski to the South Pole.

Reena, a professional mountaineer and a freelance instructor in Darjeeling, got selected ahead of 27-year-old Aparna Ray of Kolkata, as the Indian representative in the Commonwealth Women's Antarctic Expedition, to be lead by the famous Felicity Aston.

Click here for Reena's training pics

The 38-year-old Reena is among eight women from Cyprus, Ghana, Singapore, Brunei, New Zealand, Jamaica and the United Kingdom who will embark on a journey of their life. The expedition aims to reach the South Pole on New Year's Day in 2010.

Reena is excited over what she calls the ultimate challenge of her life. "I have gone on different expeditions in the last few years. But this is a dream come true, especially for someone like me, who grew up among the Himalayas," she tells Mobile ESPN in an exclusive interview in Delhi recently.

But, Reena's dream mission is in bad weather already, "I am not getting any sponsors to help me better prepare for this expedition. I need to improve my fitness as we have to cover 800 km and under extreme conditions."

Reena, along with the other team members, will have to survive temperatures of around minus 30 degree Centigrade as they ski across Antarctica to South Pole, lugging 80kg ration and tent slung on the back.

"There have been very little response from private parties and the government on my request for sponsorship," she says, ruefully adding: "There is lot of money reserved for cricket, I guess." Reena is currently on a 10-day training trip to New Zealand, apparently shelling out Rs 5 lakh through a bank loan.

One of the virtues of a mountaineer is patience and the never-say-die spirit. Reena is using a big slice of that to hope for some funds in order to meet her Rs 19 lakh budget to complete the expedition.

"I have approached the Ministry of sports and youth affairs and many other corporate companies as well. I am still keeping my hopes alive, expecting them to respond at some stage," she says.

The final round of training, which is acclimatization to harsh winter conditions, will take place in the United Kingdom starting November 1, a fortnight before the team leaves on the dream mission to mark the 60th anniversary of the Commonwealth.