BSF women mountaineers complete historic Everest bid (Photo: BSF)
New Delhi: Four women constables of the Border Security Force (BSF) reached the summit of Mount Everest at 8am on Wednesday, completing the paramilitary force’s first all-women ascent of the world’s highest peak.
The team – Kouser Fatima from Ladakh, Munmun Ghosh from West Bengal, Rabeka Singh from Uttarakhand, and Tsering Chorol from Kargil topped out at 8,848.86 metres in what the force has named “Mission Vande Mataram”.
The expedition, flagged off from New Delhi on April 6, 2026 by the director general of BSF, Praveen Kumar, was timed to coincide with two institutional milestones: the force’s diamond jubilee year and the 150th anniversary of the national song Vande Mataram.
Following the summit, Kumar spoke to the team via radio link from Everest base camp.
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The four climbers come from markedly different geographic and cultural backgrounds – the Ladakhi high-altitude terrain, the Bengali plains, the Garhwal foothills of Uttarakhand, and the rugged Kargil district of Jammu and Kashmir.
At the summit, the team sang Vande Mataram, believed to be the first rendition of the national song from that altitude.
The climbers
Kouser Fatima and Tsering Chorol, both from high-altitude regions along the northern frontier, bring direct acclimatization experience that is a significant physiological advantage on Himalayan expeditions.
Munmun Ghosh and Rabeka Singh represent the BSF's broader recruitment base across the country.
All four hold the rank of constable which makes the achievement notable in institutional terms. High-altitude mountaineering within Indian paramilitary and military structures has historically been dominated by senior or specially-designated personnel.
BSF’s mountaineering history
The BSF has a documented history of high-altitude climbing that stretches back decades. The force has previously summited 50 prominent peaks, including two successful Everest expeditions – in 2006 and 2018, both fielded by male climbers.
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Bachendri Pal became the first Indian woman to summit Everest in 1984. In 1992, a team of seven Indian women summited together.
In 2013, Premlata Agarwal, then 48, summited as part of a larger Indian expedition. The BSF's all-women team joins a long, if hard-won, lineage.
Globally, the 2026 season has seen heavy traffic on the Nepal side of Everest, with the Nepalese government having issued a record number of climbing permits in recent years.
What comes next
In the days following the women's Everest summit, a separate all-men BSF team is scheduled to attempt Mount Lhotse, the fourth-highest peak in the world at 8,516 metres.
Lhotse shares the same base camp and route up to Camp 3 as Everest before diverging toward the Lhotse Face and its own summit couloir.
