ITBP’s first all-women expedition successfully summits Mt Everest
The Indo-Tibetan Border Police Force (ITBP) has successfully completed its first-ever all-women international mountaineering expedition to Mt Everest (8,848 m), marking a historic milestone in the force’s mountaineering legacy.
The expedition, flagged off from Force Headquarters, New Delhi, on April 19, 2026, was undertaken in line with the vision of the Union Home Minister to conduct exclusive ITBP Everest expeditions for three consecutive years.
The 14-member team, comprising 11 women climbers and 3 technical/support members, successfully summited Mt Everest on May 21, 2026, with the first summit at 0652 hrs via the South Col Route from the Nepal side.
The climbers displayed exceptional courage, endurance and teamwork while negotiating extreme weather conditions, low oxygen levels and difficult ice-wall sections in the “Death Zone” above 8,000 metres.
The expedition reflects the ITBP’s commitment towards women empowerment, adventure leadership and excellence in high-altitude operations.
As part of the Force’s “Clean Himalaya — Save Glacier” campaign, the team also carried out environmental awareness activities and collected non-biodegradable waste in the Everest region.
With this achievement, ITBP has now successfully conducted 232 mountaineering expeditions, including five successful Mt Everest summits. The Force has also scaled six of the world’s fourteen 8,000-metre peaks — Mt Everest, Mt Kanchenjunga, Mt Makalu, Mt Lhotse, Mt Dhaulagiri and Mt Manaslu.
