NOLS Instructor Receives Tenzing Norgay National Adventure Award

Reena Dharmshaktu

Lander, WY – India’s president honored Reena Dharmshaktu, a National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) instructor, for her adventuresome achievements Monday.

Raised in a town from which the Himalayans are visible, the Darjeeling native now regularly leads NOLS courses into those very mountains. In addition to mountaineering with NOLS and other organizations, Dharmshaktu was the first Indian woman to ski from the coast of Antarctica to the South Pole.

She now holds a new title: recipient of the Tenzing Norgay National Adventure Award. The award is the nation’s highest recognition for adventurers of land, sea and air. Dharmshaktu and another woman were honored for their achievements in land adventure. Two others were recognized for water and lifetime achievements in adventure.

Dharmshaktu skied from the coast of Antarctica to the South Pole in 2009 as part of an all-woman expedition to honor Kapersky Commonwealth’s 60th anniversary. She and seven other women from Commonwealth countries were selected to make the 915-kilometer (568 miles) traverse, which they completed in 38 days. Dharmshaktu attributes being selected to represent India on the trek to her NOLS leadership experience.

“I think just the fact that I got selected for the interview [in the selection process], has a lot to do with my NOLS background and the qualities of leadership I got to inculcate in me,” she said.

The conditions of NOLS Mountaineering and Himalayan Backpacking courses, which Dharmshaktu has now been leading for four years, also prepared her for the extreme cold and harsh setting of the South Pole traverse.

“In [Himalaya Mountaineering] we have sub-zero temperatures, long hard days, teamwork and great tolerance for adversity and uncertainty,” Dharmshaktu said. “It was very helpful, for sure.”