The South Pole doesn’t forgive mistakes. There is no road, no shelter to duck into and no easy way to turn back. For 11 days, Kaamya Karthikeyan skied across Antarctica, pulling her expedition sled through temperatures falling to –30°C and fierce winds.
On 27 December 2025, at just 18, she reached the geographic South Pole, becoming the youngest Indian and the second-youngest woman in the world to ski to the South Pole. Starting from 89° South, she covered approximately 115 km (60 nautical miles) on skis while hauling her supplies.
But Antarctica was not Kaamya’s first encounter with extreme terrain. Born into a Navy family, Kaamya is the daughter of Commander S. Karthikeyan of the Indian Navy and Lavanya Karthikeyan, an early-childhood educator. A student of Navy Children School, Mumbai, she began mountaineering remarkably young.
At 10, she became the youngest person to ski down from the summit of Mount Elbrus. At 12, she became the youngest girl in the world to climb Aconcagua, South America’s highest peak. At 14, she climbed Denali, becoming the youngest non-American to summit North America’s highest mountain.
Then came Everest. In May 2024, at 16, Kaamya became the youngest Indian and the second-youngest girl in the world to summit Mount Everest from Nepal.
Seven months later, she stood on Mount Vinson in Antarctica. On 24 December 2024, at 17, she completed the Seven Summits climbing the highest mountain on every continent. Her seven peaks were Kilimanjaro, Elbrus, Kosciuszko, Aconcagua, Denali, Everest and Vinson.
The South Pole was a different kind of challenge. Instead of climbing upwards, Kaamya had to keep moving across a vast, frozen expanse while carrying her own supplies. She trained specifically for the expedition and set out to complete the journey on skis. And on 27 December 2025, she did it.
Her achievement has also been recognised well before her South Pole expedition. In 2021, Kaamya received the Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar for Sports, India’s national award for exceptional achievement by children.
Now, the South Pole has added another remarkable chapter to a journey that began on mountains. Kaamya is pursuing the Explorers Grand Slam, which combines the Seven Summits with reaching both the South and North Poles. With the South Pole now behind her, the North Pole remains the next major frontier.
At 18, Kaamya has already climbed the highest mountains across seven continents and skied to one of the most remote points on Earth. For her, the map simply keeps getting bigger.
