LEH: Twenty NCC girl cadets from across the country have completed a 30-day, 250-km high-altitude trek across the 5,578-metre Parang La Pass, linking Himachal Pradesh’s Spiti Valley with Ladakh’s Changthang region.
The ‘Aparajita–Parang La 2026’ expedition was flagged in at Karzok on Wednesday by DG NCC Lt Gen Virendra Vats and Additional Secretary, Ministry of Defence, Dipti Mohil Chawla.
The expedition was flagged off from New Delhi by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on August 18. The cadets traversed the route from Kibber in Himachal Pradesh to Karzok in Ladakh, negotiating glaciers, snowfields, river valleys and other challenging high-altitude terrain.
The cadets were accompanied by NCC officers, instructors, medical personnel and support staff during the expedition.
Congratulating the team at Karzok, Lt Gen Virendra Vats said such adventure activities help develop leadership, self-confidence, teamwork and endurance among young people.
The expedition was organised to encourage greater participation of young women in adventure activities and expose them to demanding high-altitude conditions.
It also sought to promote national integration by bringing together girl cadets from different parts of the country for a shared expedition.
The successful completion of the trek marked the culmination of a demanding journey across one of the region’s high-altitude routes, combining adventure training with exposure to challenging terrain and conditions.
