Binita (left) and Anita Soren, the two tribal girls who will be part of the expedition team. Picture by Bhola Prasad

Jamshedpur, Aug. 18: After Island Peak, it?s the turn of Karakoram Pass to face the human challenge.

An all-woman team of 10, led by the legendary Bachendri Pal, will set out early next month to conquer the pass in a Tata Steel-sponsored mission.

It was Pal who had marshalled a team of bravehearts to the Island Peak conquest last year. This time, her squad comprises five members from Jharkhand, two from Uttaranchal and one each from Gujarat, Karnataka and Rajasthan.

Besides Pal, Chetna Sahu and Premlata Agarwal are also from the steel city. The remaining state members ? Binita and Anita Soren ? hail from a tiny village in Seraikela-Kharsawan district.

Reena Rawat and Poonam Panwar (Uttaranchal), Chawla Jagirdar (Gujarat), Basumati Srinivasan (Karnataka) and Sushma Bissa (Rajasthan), complete the team. It will be the first expedition for Binita, Anita and Reena.

An eleventh member, too, could join the team. ?We are yet to get the confirmation from Shyamla Padmanabhan, an officer of Tata Consultancy Services, Mumbai,? said Pal.

Herman and Robert Schlagintweit were the first European explorers known to have crossed the pass in 1856. The claim by Col. Alexander Gardiner to have crossed Karakoram in 1926 remains doubtful.

Shedding light on the expedition, Pal said the 19,000-ft Karakoram Pass is a highly restricted military zone and special permission is required for expeditions. Besides, the approval of the Indian Mountaineering Foundation is also necessary.

At present, China controls the area of Akasi Chin while Shyok Valley is under Indian jurisdiction.

?Karamkoram Pass falls in the Leh terrain of Jammu and Kashmir and is close to the China border. We have charted out a 20-day expedition (including the return journey),? she pointed out, adding that the team would also scale the 20,000-ft Stock Kangari Peak on its return journey.

The 10 women will start from Sasoma in Leh (4500-ft) and cross Jhingmoche, Skyangpoche, Tut-yailak, Saser la, Saserbrangsa, Chongtash, Qazi Langur, Depsang la, Daulat Beg Oldi and Chiajozila before reaching the Karakoram Pass. The defence ministry has given its green signal to the expedition, Pal said.

This will be the third all-Indian women?s expedition. Earlier, teams had gone to the Siachen glacier in 1997 as part of a trans-Himalayan expedition and Island Peak last year.